LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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— V^ 
Shelf..-.-'2.-a8' 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



JUN a 1885 



jiJV 



ECCE VERITAS. 



I PROCEEDED FORTH AND CAME FROM GOD ; neither came I of Myself, but 
He sent Me."— Christ to the Jews, John viii. 42. 

To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I 

SHOULD BEAK WITNESS UNTO THE TRUTH, EvERY ONE THAT IS OP 

THE TRUTH HEARETH MY VOICE."— Christ to Pilate, John xviii. 37. 



jtrvG "^iy 



NEW YOKK: 
J. H. BROWN PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

1885. 



:st 



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.T^« 



COPYRIGHT, 1885, 
By JAMES BOYLE. 



EDWARD O. JENKINS' SONS, 

Printers and Stereotypers^ 

20 North William Street, New York. 



IS DEDICATED 

TO MY AGED AND DEAR FRIEND, 

JAMES BOYLE, M.D., 

IN TOKEN OF THE DEEPEST VENERATION AND LOVE, 
BY THE 

AUTHOR. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE I. 

PAGE 

Preliminary Thoughts, ...... 1 

CHAPTER n. 
Authenticity of the Historical Christ, . . 17 

CHAPTER in. 

The True Christ, the Incarnate Son of God. 
The Christ of Spiritual Principles. His 
Essential Self, 30 

CHAPTER IV. 
Christ's Sermon on the Mount, .... 56 

CHAPTER V. 

Sermon on the Mount continued. — A Criticism, 75 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Miracles of Christ 112 

(V) 



vi CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Messiahship of Christ, . . . , . 133 

CHAPTER VIII, 
The Divine Democracy of Christ, . . . 165 

CHAPTER IX. 
Christ's Distinction of Character, . . .184 

CHAPTER X. 
Everlasting Life as Taught by Christ, . . 196 

CHAPTER XI. 
Relation of Christ to His System, . . .209 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Christianity of Christ the Absolute Re- 
ligion, 232 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Progress and Triumph of Christ's Kingdom, 255 



ECOE VERITAS 



CHAPTER I. 

PRELIMIITAET THOUaHTS. 

OuE Inquiry is of Christ and His Religioit. 
The im|)ortance of the subject is supreme, if — as 
is said of Him in the " Acts of the Apostles," by 
Peter in his address to the rulers and elders of 
Israel — " There is none other Name under heaven 
given among men whereby we must be saved," 
which we expect to make clear in this Writing, 
but in a far different way, if not in a different 
sense also, from that in the common, current sec- 
tarian theology ; and this is our justification for 
the task we have undertaken. 

The Jestjs who was born of Mart, " grew in 
stature and wisdom," became " subject to his 
parents," wrought at the trade of a carpenter 
with his father, Joseph, and had a common hu- 
man history the same as another man, and of 
which but little is known, we shall concern our- 
self with only so far as that history leads us up 
to the True Christ as the Son of God, the 
Representative of The Father, " God Mani- 
fested IN THE Flesh," "full of Grace and 
Truth" — the Spiritual Christ, the Emhodi- 



2 ECCE VERITAS. 

ment of Spiritual Principles. These divine ele- 
ments of His character, which are Justice, Mercy, 
Truth, and Love, constitute the Real Cheist 
and bring Him into communication with the 
Realm of the Invisible and Consecrate His Hu- 
manity, thus fixing his true relation to the Fa- 
ther, on the one hand, and to the Human Kace, 
of which he is the Brothee, on the other hand. 
These qualities, constituting the Moral Nature 
of the Father and which the Christ derived from 
Him as his Son, are those by virtue of which he 
becomes the Savioe of the world, through their 
implantation in the Human Heart and making 
them all-powerful, all-practical in Human Af- 
fairs, and ultimately establishing them as the 
foundation and glory of the visible " Kingdom 
of God " among men. This was and is His sole, 
supreme work ; and it is ours to show how he 
inaugurated it, how he is doing it, and how it 
shall be done. 

Cheist, as the Embodiment and Teacher of Di- 
vine Principles, has ever attracted and charmed 
those who have eyes to see and hearts to appre- 
ciate so unique and divine a character, and has 
enlisted their grandest eulogiums. Says Mr. 
Carlyle : " Jesus of ISTazareth, our Divinest Sym- 
bol ! Higher has the human thought not yet 
reached. A Symbol of quite perennial, infinite 
character, whose significance will ever demand to 
be inquired into and anew made manifest." 

"I esteem the Gospels," says Goethe, "thor- 
oughly genuine, for there shine forth from them 



PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS. 3 

fhe reflected splendor of a snblimitT, proceeding 
from the person of Jesus Christj of so divine a 
kind as only the Dites'e could ever have mani- 
fested upon earth." 

Says Rousseau : " What sweetness, what pu- 
rity in His ways ; what touching grace in His 
teachings I What a loftiness in His maxims, 
what profound wisdom in His words ! "What 
presence of mind, what delicacy and aptness in 
His replies ! What an empire over His passions I 
Where is the man, where is the sage, who knows 
how to act, to suffer, and to die without weak- 
ness and without display ? Men do not invent 
like this ; and the facts respecting Socrates, which 
no one doubts, are not so well attested as those 
about Jesus Christ. The Jews could never have 
struck this tone, or thought of this morality ; 
and the Gospel has characteristics of truthful- 
ness so grand, so striking, so perfectly inimi- 
table, that their inventors would be even more 
wonderful than He whom they portray." 

Dr. Channing, as reported by Miss Peabody, 
says : " Socrates was inferior to Jesus as a reve- 
lation to man, if only that He was intellectual 
merely, while Jesus was spiritual and humane 
as well ; and Jesus suffered more than Socrates, 
because His wider sensibility comprehended the 
wants of the heart of humanity as well as of its 
mind, and the happiness and dignity of those at 
the nadir of society as well as those at the zenith. 
He can be fully comprehended only progressive- 
ly, as the human mind forever and ever gauges 



4 ECCE VERITAS. 

more and more deeply the heart of the living 
Creator and Father of men. The good sense of 
Jesus, His freedom from all fanaticism of speech 
or action, together with His ideality, place Him 
a.bove all other Revealers of God." 

In a recent work, " Studies of Jesus," by K. 
Heber Newton, we have a comparison of Jesus 
with Buddha and Socrates. He says : " The 
kindly justice, the noble public spirit of Con- 
fucius ; the hunger for holiness, the self-sacri- 
ficing love of Buddha ; the thirst for truth, the 
patient self-command of Socrates, are all at the 
zenith in Jesus. He has all the noble manliness, 
all the sweetest grace of womanliness. Every 
race and age iinds its ideal in Him. He com- 
bines the healthy, happy humaneness of the 
Greek, the intense spiritual aspiration of the He- 
brew, the Koman law-abidingness, the Hindu ab- 
sorption in God, the Germanic individualism, 
the Latin sense of a corporate life, the ancient 
conservatism, and the modern spirit of progress." 
After speaking of the heroic life and death of 
Socrates, he says of Jesus : " Of a broken heart, 
literally, died this gentlest, tenderest, most sen- 
sitive soul of earth, under an accumulation of 
suffering and shame which lifts His end out of 
all parallelism with that immortal death scene 
at Athens ; and yet with what fearlessness alike 
of men and of death, with what majestic dignity 
and calm composure, with what immovable pa- 
tience and magnanimous generosity, with what 
self-forgetful thoughtfulness for those around 



PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS. 6 

Him, with what serenest trust in the Heavenly 
Father, and with what unconquerable sense of 
victory He met His end." 

" The history of Israel in the hands of the most 
radical of critics, grows into a natural evolution 
of the Christly character, as the human ideal, the 
image of God ; until the translucent becomes al- 
most transparent, and the face of the Christ 
shapes itself into human form ; until the nebu- 
lous vision seems waiting only an individual 
around whom to crystallize, in whom to material- 
ize, and the * Word to be made flesh.' That such 
a man should at some time come, to embody the 
spirit of the people, all history leads us to ex- 
pect." " Israel found its Man. In the Autumn 
of its life it came to seed. In its death agonies 
it gave birth to the Personality in whom its 
whole soul lived, and so its body crumbled away 
from among the nations of the earth." 

Good and great as were Moses, Confucius, 
Buddha, Socrates, Chirst immeasurably tran- 
scends, as the Incarnate Word, " Anointed by 
God with the oil of gladness above his Fellows." 

Buddhism is five hundred years older than 
Christianity, and had its origin in the self-sacri- 
ficing soul of Gautama, a prince of high position 
and wealth, who renounced all these, subjected 
himself to poverty, travail and toil to reform his 
countrymen from the sin and corruption into 
which the people had fallen. A truly holy soul, 
offering himself up vicariously for the good of 
others. Absorption in God and self-sacrifice 



6 ECCE VERITAS. 

were the elements of his power, as they were of 
Christ's. 

That the thoughts of two such great souls, so 
intent on a similar work, should run in the same 
channels, and express themselves often in similar 
phrase, could not be otherwise. On account of 
this coincidence, and the fact that Buddha ante- 
dated Christ, some have been led to say that 
Jesus was indebted to the Oriental Reformer for 
His plan and much of His teaching. But it is 
quite absolutely certain that Christ never heard 
of Buddha, much less of his mission and teach- 
ing. There was at that time no communication 
between Palestine and the home of the Eastern 
Prophet. The dispersion of Israel had never ex- 
tended so far as India, and the journeys of Jewish 
travellers before, and some time after Christ, never 
reached farther East than the Parthian dominions. 
The only communication with India from the 
Mediterranean was through ignorant traders by 
way of the Red Sea ; and they would not be 
likely to be missionaries of the doctrines of 
Buddha. And it is well authenticated that noth- 
ing was known of Buddhism in the West till the 
second century of the Christian Era. So the ar- 
gument for Christian plagiarism, or the imper- 
ceptible infiltration of Buddhistic ideas into the 
teaching of Christ, is without a rational basis. 

But there can be no rivalry between pure 
Buddhism, as it was in its first stages under its 
author, and Christianity ; for so far as they agree 
they must be from the same source, the inspira- 



PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS. 7 

tion of God, as Christ said : " Every one that is 
of the truth heareth my voice." The Law of 
Love is one the world over ; and Christ gave 
special emphasis to this when He made it the 
sole test of character and destiny of all nations 
alike, in the judgment executed, as related in the 
XXV. Chapter of Matthew. To the same purport 
is Peter's statement in Acts : " In every nation 
he that feareth God and worketh righteousness, 
is accepted with him." 

Buddhism, however, having fallen away from 
its original simplicity — temples, statues, idolatry, 
priests and sacrifices, taking the place of the un- 
ostentatious teachings of Gautama — is losing its 
hold on the people, together with the popular 
forms of Brahminism and Confucianism, as we 
are told by writers who have travelled in Japan, 
in India, and China, and have marked the decay. 
Of course, the truths taught in all these religions 
by their founders, cannot die, and, therefore, 
they still live, vdth more or less power, in the 
practical life of the people in all those lands. It 
is the unsubstantial, sensuous forms that must 
perish. And not those of the Oriental faiths 
alone, but the Christian forms, so named, are 
destined more and more to disintegrate, till they, 
too, will pass away, as clouds that obscure the 
" Sun of Righteousness." 

" Every one of these religious families " (Prot- 
estant, Catholic, Jewish), says Mr. Renan, " will 
have two classes of adherents ; the one believing 
simply and absolutely after the manner of the 



8 ECCE VERITAS. 

Middle Ages, the other sacrificing the letter of 
the law and maintaining its spirit. In every 
communion this latter great class will increase ; 
and as the spirit draws together qnite as mnch as 
the letter separates, the spiritually minded of 
each faith will be brought nearer. Fanaticism 
will be lost in general toleration. The theory of 
the dogma will become merely a mysterious vault 
which no one will care to open ; and if the vault 
lie empty, of what importance is it ? " 

Great as was Socrates, still his philosophical 
speech is limited to the learned and cultured, 
and, therefore, not for humanity, only in a nar- 
row way by indirection, while Christ's teachings 
are adapted to all times, races, and conditions of 
men, and thus rise to the Supreme place in the 
world, never to be surpassed, never to be equalled. 
They cannot die, but must live and supplant all 
the religions of forms and dogma. And in that 
day that shall see its complete triumph, " God 
shall put His Law in men's minds," as He says, 
" and write it in their hearts ; and they shall not 
teach every man his neighbor, and every man his 
brother, saying, know the Lord, for all shall know 
Him, from the least to the greatest." 

"The progress of humanity," says Benan, 
^'cannot destroy or weaken religion, but must 
develop and increase it": that is, the religion of 
Christ, which is grounded in that humanity. 
But after eighteen hundred years, the question 
of the hour, with large numbers of Truth seekers, 
is still : " What is CJiristianity f " And while 



PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS. 9 

their statements, in reply, if not their ideas, are 
more or less conflicting, there seems also to be 
some bewilderment, arising, no doubt, for the 
most part, from the aspect nnder which each, 
from his stand-point, is led to view it, and from 
looking too much through the misty medium of 
the popular religion, which ostentatiously as- 
sumes its name and claims to be its representa- 
tive. It is like looking at a picture or a statue 
by the aid of deceptive side lights, instead of 
that unobstructed light that descends from above. 

From this cause other men of other times con- 
cluded it to be altogether spurious, an imposture ; 
and hence proceeded to attack both it and its Au- 
thor. While these are not without existing suc- 
cessors, the more thoughtful, the more religious, 
the more honest Free-thinkers, are ready to con- 
cede to Christ a veritable life, and to His teach- 
ings great excellence ; but, mistakingly, think- 
ing He marred His system by the teaching of 
dogma, they cannot concede to His teaching the 
claim of Absolute Truth. So they propose to 
take the good that is in Him, as also that of all 
other religions, and, adding their own most spir- 
itual thought, work the whole into a pure The- 
ism and Absolute Religion. 

This seems to be the ground they occupy, if we 
have read them aright. They are, vdthout doubt, 
the advanced thinkers, philosophers, and relig- 
ionists. Some of them we know, and know to 
be such, and have the highest admiration of their 
talent, goodness, and sincerity. Their purpose 
1* 



10 ECCE VERITAS, 

is the highest that can command the human soul, 
as their ideal is the grandest of human concep- 
tions. To seek the Religion of Absolute Truth, 
and the pure worship of the One Only and True 
God, in spirit and in truth, is the loftiest voca- 
tion of the human soul. Our essential object is 
one with theirs. The thoughts which follow in 
this work are designed, in a different way, and 
from a different point of view, to contribute to 
that end. It will appear from the whole view 
we take of Christ and His work, that His system 
excludes all dogmas, speculations, forms, and or- 
dinances, inculcating only Truth and Love, and 
the "worship of the Father in spirit and in 
truth," and is, therefore, the Absolute Religion. 
Our work is, therefore, quite different from 
that of "Ecce Homo," "Ecce Deus," or of Mr. 
Renan's "Life of Jesus"; and, in fact, from that 
of any other writer on Christianity we know of. 
Mr. Renan, without making it his object, sees 
the fact we affirm clearly enough, and states it 
readily. In speaking of Christ's conversation 
with the woman at Jacob's Well, while resting 
in his journey from Jerusalem into Galilee, says : 
" He here for the first time gave utterance to the 
idea upon which shall rest the Edifice of the Ev- 
erlasting Religion. He founded the pure wor- 
ship, of no age, of no clime, which shall be that 
of all lofty souls to the end of time. Not only 
was His religion, that day, the benign religion 
of Humanity, but it was the Absolute Religion ; 
and if other planets have inhabitants endowed 



PRELIMINAB Y THO UGHTS. H 

with, reason and morality, their religion cannot 
be different from that which. Jesus proclaimed 
at Jacob's WeU." 

These are the words of the Great Teacher on 
that occasion : " Neither in this mountain, nor 
yet at Jerusalem, shall ye worship tlie Father ; 
But the iLoiir cometh and now is, when the True 
Worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit 
and in truth, for He seeketh such, to worship 
Him. God is a Spirit ; and they that worship 
Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." 

We have used the phrase, " The CJiristianity 
of Christ, the Absolute Religio]^," in the 
heading of the Chapter on that subject, to dis- 
tinguish it from that system of dogmas, rites, 
and external worship adopted by almost innu- 
merable sects, which, is made to pass for Christ's 
purely spiritual religion. We must insist on this 
distinction ; for we cannot allow the current re- 
ligion of Christendom to be the same as that 
found in the Sermon on the Mount, the Golden 
Rule, and proclaimed at Jacob's Well ; and so it 
will appear as the character and teachings of 
Christ unfold themselves in the pages of our 
work. 

Ecce Homo makes a personal attachment to 
Christ stand in the place of faith in His princi- 
ples, evolving in the disciple what he calls the 
" Enthusiasm of Humanity," as the grand power 
of propagandism ; while Renan makes Christ's 
divine devotion to the will of the Father the 
grand source of His own power ; and the same 



12 ECCE VERITAS. 

devotion in His followers to be the proof both of 
their attachment to Him, and of their power in 
the propagation of His canse. 

Again, Ecce Homo believes the miracles to be 
genuine, and to be essential to the establishment 
of Christ's claim to be the Divine Messenger, the 
Messiah, and, consequently, to give the impetus 
to His work, without which it would have failed 
to establish itself : Whereas Mr. Renan thinks 
the miracles were simulated, or were works pro- 
duced by ordinary means, but thought to be mi- 
raculous by the people, and, probably, by Christ 
Himself, since the mind of the age and the coun- 
try were full of belief in the prodigies of the 
Thaumaturgist, and would expect a Divine Mes- 
senger, such as Jesus claimed to be, to show His 
credentials in supernatural wonders ; and, for 
this end, apparent miracles were as good as real 
ones. In this, we think, he is far from what is 
the clear truth of the case, and Prof. Seeley is 
certainly nearest to the fact as to the miracles 
themselves ; but both, we think, place too high 
an estimate on the importance of miracles in 
Christ's system, as we shall be able to show, we 
trust, when we reach that subject. 

Again Ecce Homo manifestly writes from with- 
in the pale of the nominal church, and as an ec- 
clesiastic, when he maintains the rite of Baptism 
and of what is called the Lord's Supper, as essen- 
tial to the organization and perpetuity of the 
Christian Brotherhood: the one to initiate the 
disciple ; the other to bind together believers 



PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS. 13 

by keeping f resli their attacliinent to Christ by a 
perpetual memorial of His death. He also holds 
to a priesthood, and system of external worship. 
Now Mr. Kenan emphatically declares ; Jesus 
established no rite, created no priesthood, and 
organized no system of external worship. Bap- 
tism and the Lord's Supper were incidental and 
temporary, and priests and formal worship are 
not in the Gospels. His words are : " Through 
the attraction of a religion, disengaged from all 
external forms it is that Christianity has en- 
chanted lofty souls." "We should search the 
Gospels in vain for a religious rite commanded 
by Jesus." "A pure worship, a religion with- 
out priests, and without external practices, were 
the result of these principles." Here Mr. E.e- 
nan enters more completely into the true spirit 
of Christ and His religion than does Prof. See- 
ley. 

Once more : Ecce Homo considers Christ's 
teachings of charity good for its day, but defi- 
cient for modern times. He says : " When it has 
done what the New Testament requires it will 
feel that its task is not half fulfilled." "The 
morality of Christ, though theoretically perfect, 
the practical morality of the first Christians has, 
in a degree, been rendered obsolete by the later 
experiences of mankind, which has taught us to 
hope more and undertake more for the happiness 
of our fellow-men." Here Renan rises to a higher 
plane; sees in Christ's words — "Give alms"; 
"Give to him that asketh"; "Lend, hoping for 



14 ECCE VERITAS. 

notMng again"; "Sell all tliat you have and 
give to the poor"; — sees in these instructions a 
divine self-f orgetf ulness, a perfect law of charity, 
which would prevent evil as well as relieve that 
which exists, and which is ample for all time. 
"Jesus," he says, "can never be surpassed." 

The spirit of Christ's instructions is what is to 
be caught and applied, and not a strict literal 
performance of them in all cases, in other coun- 
tries and times. A local state of things, doubt- 
less, often determines the/brm of the expression. 
Thus Christ's words to the rich young man, who 
would know of Him what he should do to inherit 
eternal life, " If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell 
that thou hast and give to the poor, and come 
follow Me ; and thou shalt have treasure in 
heaven," are to be considered of special applica- 
tion where the nature of the case, Christ saw, in- 
volved a fatal obstruction to the man's salvation 
in his possessions, to which he clung with a 
Tieart-tenacity, which, to ungrasp, demanded a 
literal parting with his wealth. There may be 
similar cases in all times and places, where the 
remedy must be the same ; but the spirit of the 
injunction is of universal and perpetual applica- 
tion, which is : Hold all thy possessions at the 
behest of duty^ at the call of mercy and brotherly 
love. JS'o wise interpreter will fail to see this 
distinction, in which there is no contradiction 
and no impossible Utopian benevolence. He will 
see that it is " the letter that killeth, while the 
spirit giveth life." With this key all Christ's 



PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS. 15 

words are consistent, full of meaning, altogether 
practicable, and safe to follow. When the world 
treats the charity of Jesns as Utopian or obso- 
lete, woe to the world ! 

Prof. Seeley, in writing his book on Christ 
and Christianity, announced another work to 
follow it, to be entitled " Christ 9.S the Creator of 
Modern Theology and Eeligion," which has never 
appeared. It would, we think, be an impossible 
task to show Christ as the Creator of Modern 
Theology and Religion. 

With Mr. Renan, and most others, we assume 
the genuineness and authenticity of the Fourth 
Gospel without hesitancy. Critics who apply 
the rational method to the study of this question 
will find much, doubtless, from their stand-point 
to determine their conclusion that it is apocry- 
phal, written by some gnostic of the second cen- 
tury. To us, the internal evidence of John's 
authorship is sufficient ; and we shall spend no 
words in reciting the proofs that have determined 
us to that opinion ; but shall use it with the same 
absolute confidence that we do the Synoptical 
Gospels. It may, however, be remarked in pass- 
ing, that Prof. Abbot's recent arguments on this 
question may be considered a sufficient answer to 
the theory of a gnostic forgery. 

To help man achieve his salvation, and to take 
his place in the " kingdom of God," Christ was 
sent from the Bosom of the Father. So now, as 
to the fact of His mission, His qualifications for 



16 ECCE VERITAS. 

His work, and His power of accomplishment, let 
us turn our attention and see if the place that is 
given Him as the world's Deliverek is justified 
by the truth of the records that have been writ- 
ten concerning Him. 



CHAPTER II. 

AUTHEI^TICITY OF THE HISTORICAL CHRIST. 

As a well- established historical fact, did Christ 
ever exist 1 It has been asserted by Yolney and 
men of his day, and by others of onr day, even 
by men now living and moving among ns, that 
Christ's existence npon earth, rests upon a no 
more solid basis than that of Hercules, or any of 
the ancient mythological divinities. Though we 
might pass by the writers who make this bold 
assertion, and take for fact the being of Jesus, 
which almost every one now admits, we shall, 
nevertheless, briefly trace the evidence of His real 
existence, as the Author of the teachings recorded 
in the Gospel Narratives. 

The historical records contained in the four 
Gospels, and written but a few years after the 
time claimed for Christ's life and death, give us 
an account of His life, spirit, temper, habits, dis- 
courses, labors, sufferings, and death by cruci- 
fixion. These writers claim to have had personal 
knowledge of Him, of His family. His home, and 
every-day life ; to have consorted with Him, and 
to have been His companions and co-workers in 
His public reformatory labors. They assert that 

(17) 



18 ECCE VERITAS. 

some of their companions were His kitli and kin — 
His parents, brothers, and more distant relatives. 

These Records are genuine ; that is, there is no 
dispute that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the 
authors of the Gospels claimed to be written by 
them ; and, as to the Fourth Gospel, though there 
has been some dispute as to John's author- 
ship, we see no valid ground for doubt. The in- 
ternal evidence reveals clearly the hand of John, 
whatever may be said of the place and lateness 
of its appearance, and of the Gnostic philosophy 
that is claimed to be couched in some of its texts. 
Even Mr. Renan, who would not be likely to lean 
to the doubtful side of such a question, concedes 
the authorship to St. John, and that the Narra- 
tive is substantially true. 

But are these Gospel Records autJientic f Are 
the facts recorded true % If they are, then Jesus 
lived. The writers were intelligent men, and 
could not but be competent to know whether the 
facts they related were true or not — especially as 
they claim to have had personal knowledge of 
the most they have recorded. But they were 
also Tionest men, and could not, or would not 
fabricate a story. Indeed, all but the simple 
facts of the Narrative, all the great teachings of 
the Gospel, were quite beyond their power of ac- 
complishment, or of any one unless he were a 
Jesus. 

That Christianity originated under the Roman 
Emperors, Augustus and Tiberius ; and that 
within eighty years, had spread over a large 



THE HISTORICAL CHRIST. 19 

part of tlie Empire — so that Pliny, in liis letter 
to Trajan, laments the evil which he vainly at- 
tempted to eradicate — is a fact to be accounted 
for without a Founder^ on the supposition that 
Christ was not that Founder. These Gospel x^ar- 
ratives, testif^dng to Jesus, are certainly as wor- 
thy of credit as the writings of Xenophon and 
Plato concerning Socrates — for, like Christ, he 
wrote nothing himself — and yet, who pretends to 
doubt their reports of their master % That Christ 
lived and suffered crucifixion under the reign of 
Tiberius, is testified to by outside writers, and no- 
wise friendly to Christianity, such as Suetonius, 
Tacitus, Julian, Porphyry, Celsus, and various 
others. Tacitus expressly bears witness that 
Christianity sprung up under Tiberius, and that 
Christ, its Author, was crucified by the Procura- 
tor, Pontius Pilate ; "' thus sustaining the Gospel 
Records, and leaving no inore room for doubting 
the existence of Jesus than of Socrates, Csesar, 
Cicero, Shakespeare, or Bacon. Yea, we better 
know, if possible, that Jesus lived and "spake 
as never man spake," did " many mighty works," 
and died upon the Cross, than that Socrates lived, 
discoursed upon Immortality and died of poison 
in Athens 400 years before. 

Josephus, who was born in the year 37, almost 
the same year of Christ's death, if not the very 
same year, and who must have come to a knowl- 
edge of Christ's history, if such a person with 



* Tacitus, Annal, lib. XY., § 44. 



20 ECCE VERITAS. 

such, a history had so recently lived, tells ns, like 
Tacitus, the story of His appearance among His 
fellow-countrymen, of His marvellous deeds, and 
of His death by the Cross, under Tiberius. The 
passage from Josephus is as follows : " JN'ow there 
was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be 
proper to call him a man, for he was a doer of 
wonderful works, a teacher of such men as re- 
ceive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to 
him both many of the Jews, and many of the 
Gentiles. He was the Christ. And when Pilate, 
at the suggestion of the principal men among us, 
had condemned him to the cross, those that loved 
him at the first did not forsake him ; for he ap- 
peared to them alive again the third day, as the 
divine prophets had foretold these and ten thou- 
sand other wonderful things concerning him. 
And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, 
are not extinct at this day." * He also speaks of 
the murder of James the brother of Jesus, by the 
Jews, and makes it a prominent reason of the 
calamities of the Jews in the siege of Jerusalem 
by Titus, as God's retribution for their crime 
against that holy man.f Of Christ's proper ex- 
istence, Mr. Gibbon, judging from the well-known 
laws of moral evidence, has no doubt of the fact. 
The personal existence of Cyrus, the sovereign 
of the Medo-Persian Empire, is admitted without 
a doubt ; yet Herodotus and Xenophon give so 



* Antiquities. Book XYIII., Chap. HI., § 3. 
I- Antiquities. Book XX., Chap. IX., § 1. 



THE HISTORICAL CHRIST. 21 

entirely different acconnts of him that they can- 
not be reconciled the one to the other. But, on 
the ground of those who reject the existence of 
Jesns, the being and sovereignty of Cyrns should 
also be rejected. Indeed, to deny so well-authen- 
ticated a fact as the existence of Christ is, as an 
old writer has said, " to unhinge all historical evi- 
dence, and leave the world in a quagmire of in- 
explicable historical uncertainty, without a foot 
of solid ground to stand upon." 

For our part, without further argument, we 
hail the Lrviis-a Cheist, and give Him our hearty 
allegiance, and render Him Royal Honor. But, 
what if we should concede His non-personal ex- 
istence ? There stands a Chaeactee, so and thus 
described in the Sacred Histories. There stand 
the Deeds recorded ; the Words that were utter- 
ed ; the great Truths that were spoken, amount- 
ing to a Revelation ; there stands the See:mo:n' ozs" 
THE Mouzs-T. What will you do with these ? 
No one, of this or any other age, unless he were 
a madman, has dared to attack these, if ever so 
inclined, or even deny their beauty, their truth 
and worth. Wonder of Wonders is that product 
we name the Gospel of Jesus Cheist. It Ema- 
nated ! It Came Forth ! How and by whom ? 
Said Theodore Parker, a not very orthodox man, 
as we all know : " It would require a Jesus to 
/or^ea Jesus." And Rousseau says : "The Jews 
could never have struck this tone, or thought of 
this morality ; and the Gospel has characteristics 
of truthfulness so grand, so striking, so perfectly 



22 ECCE VERITAS. 

inimitable, that their inventors would be even 
more wonderful than He whom they portray." 
He who produced the Gospel is the one whom 
we receive and welcome, however named, or not 
named at all. The teachings are vital — God-in- 
spired. IN'o uninspired soul could have conceived 
them. All truth has its home in the bosom of 
God, and must come from Him. Christianity, 
then, with or without the person Christ, is Heav- 
en's Message to men — a Revelation of the God- 
head to a world famishing for the bread of life. 
Again, we say, what will you do with it ? Cease 
to cavil. Occupy thyself, not with the sJiells of 
things. Seize the Substance ; appropriate it ; 
make it thy own, and be blessed. " Faith," says 
Carlyle, " is properly the one thing needful ; how 
with it Martyrs, otherwise weak, can cheerfully 
endure the shame and the cross ; and without it. 
Worldlings puke up their existence by suicide 
in the midst of luxury." 

But it is more satisfactory to look into the 
eyes of One and say, this is the Author of the 
Gospel. And by every law of reason, and of 
historical evidence, Jesus the Cheist is that 
veritable Oiste. We may look across the vista of 
eighteen hundred and fifty years, and see Him 
walking the streets of JS^azareth ; or driving the 
carpenter's plane ; or climbing the hills of Gali- 
lee ; or in the market places, the synagogue, or 
Temple at Jerusalem disputing with the Doctors ; 
or wandering through the fields among the lilies, 
observing that " Solomon in all his glory was not 



THE HISTORICAL CHRIST. 23 

arrayed like one of these "; or at His dear Beth- 
any, engaged in sweet converse with Mary, and 
Martha, and Lazarus ; or delivering His Sermon 
on the Mount ; see Him there a Living Presence, 
Divinely Human, and Brother of thine and of 
mine. Henceforward we shall so take Him, and 
walk with Him, we trust, in loving companion- 
ship. 

The home of Jesus was the city of Nazareth in 
Galilee, though He was doubtless born in the 
village of Bethlehem, in Judea, whither His 
parents had gone to be enrolled for the national 
tax, which Augustus had ordered to be levied 
throughout the Roman Empire. But chronology 
seems to make the time of this enrollment some 
ten years later than the time given for the birth 
of Jesus. There are also some difficulties about 
the genealogies which critical writers interpose. 
With these matters we do not deem it necessary 
to meddle ; for we can see how difficulties in such 
things might arise without impairing the essen- 
tial truth of the records. 

Wliat we know is, that after His birth the 
family returned to Nazareth, which, writers who 
have visited that country, say is, with the 
region about, the most beautiful part of the Holy 
Land, which retains, unlike many parts of Pal- 
estine, all its original essential loveliness. Mr. 
Kenan, who, as a director of a scientific commis- 
sion of exploration in 1860 and 1861, and who 
spent some time in Nazareth and other parts of 
Galilee, says : " I have visited Jerusalem, Hebron, 



24 lECCE VERITAS. 

and Samaria. Scarcely any locality in the his- 
tory of Jesns has escaped me. The striking ac- 
cord of the texts and the places ; the wonderful 
harmony of the evangelical ideal with the land- 
scape, which served as its setting, were to me as 
a revelation. I had before my eyes a Fifth Gos- 
pel, torn bnt still legible, and, thenceforth, 
through the Narratives of Matthew and Mark, 
instead of an abstract being, which one would 
say never existed, I saw a wonderful Human 
roEM live and move." 

JN'azareth of Galilee, then, was the home of 
Jesus. Nazareth, with its beautiful gardens and 
groves, and surrounded by mountains and val- 
leys — Gilboa, Tabor, and Safed, and those of 
Shecham, and the plains of Per sea, with a 
glimpse of the gulf of Khaifa showing itself in 
the distance beyond. Here the young child 
lived and grew, played in the streets with the 
children, or, more reflective than the rest, stole 
away for meditation and study. Here, in more 
advanced years. He wrought with His father at 
the carpenter's trade, and studied the Holy Books 
of His people, making Himself familiar with the 
law of Moses, the teachings of the Prophets, the 
poetry of Job and the Psalms, and drinking in 
the inspiration of the wonderful and extensive 
predictions of the coming Messiah. So wonder- 
fully was He charged with the sacred lore, that, 
at the age of twelve years, we find Him in the 
Temple at Jerusalem, whither He had gone with 
His parents and neighbors to attend the annual 



THE HISTORICAL CHRIST. 25 

Feast, disputing with tlie Doctors, " both hearing 
them and asking them questions ; and all that 
heard Him were astonished at His understanding 
and answers." And, when chided by His parents 
for His tarrying behind the returning company 
on their Avay home, He replied : " Wist ye not 
that I must be about My Father's business?" 
Jesus returned to JSTazareth, and "increased in 
knowledge and wisdom, and in stature, and in 
favor with God and men." Here He tarried, 
with occasional visits, doubtless, to the surround- 
ing country, till He was 30 years of age, when 
He entered upon His great work. 

Not by slow and gradual steps did He make 
His way to a renowned position as a Teacher, 
but suddenly, like the appearing of a meteor, 
He flashed upon the world. He was fully armed 
for His mission by having gathered all the knowl- 
edge that was accessible in the sacred books of 
His nation, and in familiar and close observation 
of nature ; to which were added, a wonderful in- 
tuition, and an inspiration which sprung from 
His having found His home in the Bosom of the 
Father. 

What is called the Miraculous Conception de- 
mands consideration. We quote the account of 
this as given by the Evangelist Matthew in the 
First Chapter of his Gospel. He says : " When 
as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, 
before they came together, she was found with 
child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her hus- 
band, being a just man, and not willing to make 
2 



26 ECCE VERITAS. 

lier a public example, was minded to put her 
away privately. But wMle lie thoiiglit on these 
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared 
unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son 
of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy 
wife ; for that which is conceived in her, is of 
the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a 
son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for he 
shall save his people from their sins. JSTow all 
this was done, that it might be fulfilled which 
was spoken by the Lord by the prophet, saying, 
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall 
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name 
Emmanuel, which, being interpreted is, Grod 
with us." 

This plainly states the fact of the conception 
of Jesus without the ordinary means of genera- 
tion. Was it so ? That Matthew, and the writ- 
ers of the Gospels, sincerely believed it, there 
can be no doubt. The will of God is the supreme 
law of the Universe. The law of Life is subordi- 
nate to that Higher Law. He is not limited and 
hampered by His own ordinary methods. He 
can do anything which is not a contradiction 
in itself. It may contradict other things ; and 
contradict His own ordinary method of doing 
tlie same thing. To do a thing differently from 
the manner in which He ordinarily does that 
thing, is not a contradiction in itself. The sim- 
ple question is, has He a reason for doing it ? If 
He has, it will be done. It is idle to talk about 
its being against the laws of nature. What are 



THE HISTORICAL CHRIST. 27 

the laws of nature but His laws ? But you say, 
they cannot be departed from. Then His laws 
are above Himself. That is a contradiction, and 
an absurdity. The weakest man is above his 
.-ovni works, and he can alter or abolish them, or 
change his methods of doing them. But the 
Omnipotent must work eternally in one way ! 
He can do nothing contrary to His ordinary 
methods ! But we say, God can do whatsoever 
He will. The laws of nature are nothing but 
the mil of Grod, operating in various ways, and 
producing all the different phenomena of nature, 
and is so uniform in its action, we think there 
can never be an exception. But there may be, 
and will be, when God has a reason for it. He 
could suspend gravitation, or any other method 
of operating in a particular case, without dis- 
turbing the general equilibrium of things. Dr. 
Samuel Clarke, the eminent divine and philos- 
opher, on this very point states as follows : 
"There is no such thing as what men call the 
course of nature, or the power of nature. The 
course of nature, truly and properly speaking, 
is nothing else but the will of God producing 
certain effects in a continued, regular, constant, 
and uniform manner, — which course of acting, 
being, in every movement, perfectly arbitrary, is 
as easy to he altered at any time as to he pre- 
served. ^^ 

If the laws of nature were originally 2^ part of 
matter, and matter eternal, then they would, or 
might be above God's control ; if, indeed, in that 



28 ECCE VERITAS. 

case, there could be any God at all. Certain it 
is, that there could be no need of one, as He 
would have nothing to do ; unless as Mr. Carlyle 
says, " It were to sit outside of His Universe and 
see it (9o." 

What we say, then, is, that Jesus might have 
been born in the manner related. What do we 
know of life, or the secret processes by which it 
is produced and perpetuated ? Cannot that 
'' Spieit that brooded upon the face of the 
deep," and gave life to every living thing, — ^to 
plants, to animals, and to man, — brood upon the 
source of life in the human being, fructify the 
germ of existence, and cause it to evolve into the 
full flower of personality f Life had its origin 
by a creative act, without any secondary causes. 
What ground or right have we, then, to say, that 
God can never, or must never repeat the original 
act ? If He can never, He is not God. If He 
must never, by whose, or by what authority ? 
To limit the Almighty is substantial Atheism. 
The myths concerning the Roman, or Egyptian, 
or Hindoo deities, are either trivial, or monstrous, 
and are self- evidently impossible. The relation 
of the miraculous birth of Jesus, is neither puer- 
ile or monstrous, and is given without exagger- 
ation ; is simple, and told as if not a wonder ; is 
not stated but this once, and never alluded to by 
Christ, Himself, and we accept it. 

But it is here to be observed, if such an origin 
of Jesus is admitted, it in no way changes His 
human nature and attributes. He partakes of 



THE HISTORICAL CHRIST 29 

His motlier's nature — He is sublimely Humais-. 
This tlie Eecords affirm. As a child "He in- 
creased in wisdom and stature"; was " a man of 
sorrows and acquainted with grief " ; " hungered " 
and " thirsted," was " wearied" with toil, " touched 
with the feeling of our infirmities" and "was 
tempted in all points as we are, and yet without 
sin." His soul was full of human sympathy, es- 
pecially tender to women and children^ and He 
mingled with the poor and suffering with an 
absorbing fellow-feeling, as a Brother of our 
common humanity and joint-heir in all the weak- 
nesses and woes of our race. 

But, as we said, the Gospels having announced 
the miracle of His birth, do not touch upon it 
again, and Jesus, Himself, nowhere alludes to 
His being born of a virginal mother : so little 
did He make of what, in subsequent ages, has 
been exalted into a doctrine of the church, and 
enforced on the consciences of believers. So 
we shall leave it where Christ, Himself, left it ; 
among the things not comprehensible, and, there- 
fore, not to be made a form of faith. 

The Christ of History is then the veritable 
Author of the Gospel truth of the Evangelical 
Eecords, named Christiais'itt. So we now pro- 
ceed to consider and make manifest the True 
Christ, as the Embodiment of Divine Prit^ci- 
PLES, whereby He becomes our Life, our Hajpe^ 
and our Way of access to God. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE TEUE CHEIST, THE INCAEJiTATE SOW OF GOD. 
THE CHEIST OF SPIEITUAL PEINCIPLES. HIS 
ESSE^-TIAL SELF. 

Cheist Himself says — " I proceeded and came 
fortli from God ; neither came I of Myself, but 
He sent Me." " TMs is eternal life to know Thee 
the only Teue God, and Jesus Cheist whom 
Thou hast Seitt." " The Woed which ye hear is 
not mine, but the Fathee's Who sent Me." 
Agreeing with this it is said by John in the open- 
ing words of his Gospel — " In the beginning was 
the Word, and the Woed was with God, and 
the Woed was God ; and the Woed was made 
Flesh and dwelt among us ; and we beheld His 
glory as the glory of the Ot^ly Begotte:n' of the 
Fathee, full of Geace and Teuth." "For the 
Law was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth 
came by Jesus Christ. ISTo man hath seen God 
at any time ; the Ois^ly Begottein" Sois" who is in 
the bosom of the Father, He hath Declaeed 
Him." So He must have had a preexistent 
being. 

The preexistence of souls is more or less be- 

(30) 



THE TRUE CHRIST. 31 

lieved everywhere, and widely so in the oriental 
world. But the doctrine is speculative and in- 
capable of demonstration. But even though the 
general doctrine be false, Christ's preexistence 
is exceptional, and demonstrable from His own 
statements and the accompanying voucher of 
God, Himself, to the truth of Christ' s word. On 
the Mount of Transfiguration, where were Moses 
and Elias, Peter, James, and John in Clirist's 
company, " a bright cloud overshadowed them, 
and behold a voice out of the cloud which said: — 
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased ; Hear ye Him " (Math. xvii. 5). Of course, 
we take the inspiration of the Gospels for granted, 
and write for those only who thus take them, and 
not for those who deny, only so far as our inter- 
pretation of them may serve to win them to ac- 
cept and love both Christ and His words. The 
three apostles who were with Christ on the Mount, 
were eye-witnesses of the scene, and ear-witnesses 
of God's declaration-^" This is My Beloved So:n^ ; 
Heae ye Him." 

[N'ow what does Christ say more specifically as 
to His preexistence f His principal statements 
are the following : — " Before Abraham was I am. " 
" No man hath ascended to Heaven, but He that 
came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man 
who is in Heaven." "Father, glorify Thou Me 
with the glory that / Jiad loith Thee Befoee 
the Woeld was." " What and if ye shall see 
the Son of Man ascend up where He loas hefore.^^ 
" I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, 



32 ECCE VERITAS. 

the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, 
who IS and who was, and who is to come ; the 
Almighty." "I, Jesus, am the Root and the 
Offspring of David." "And He said nnto them, 
how say they (the Jews) that Christ is David's 
Son ? and David, himself, saith in the book of 
the Psalms, The Lord said nnto my Lord (Christ) 
sit thou on My Right Hand till I make thine 
enemies thy footstool. David, therefore, calleth 
Him Lord, how is He then his Son ? " This is 
an argument with the caviling Jews to show that 
Christ as David's Lord was before David as his 
root, and yet his son as the Messiah and son of 
Mary. Christ's divine preexistent nature the 
Jews would not admit, and held it blasphemy to 
assert, and Jesus took this method to confound 
them out of their own Scriptures. One more 
quotation — "These things saith the Amen, the 
Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of 
the Creation of God." 

Thus he claims to have existed before Abra- 
ham was ; to have come down from Heaven ; 
to have been at the same time in Heaven ; to 
have been with the Father before the world was ; 
to have been David's Lord and Root of his exist- 
ence as David's creator ; as Alpha and Omega ; 
the Beginning of the Creation of God. " ^N'othing 
can be more emphatic or more clearly stated than 
that Christ asserts His Peeexistent Being. 

Now as the Being who " proceeded and came 
forth from God," and " became Flesh and dwelt 
among us," who was He ? What was His rela- 



THE TRUE CHRIST. 33 

tion to tlie Father who sent Him ? He was not 
tlie same as the One who sent Him, it is manifest, 
as that would be an absurdity, and He Himself dis- 
claims it. He says in His X)rayer, as recorded in 
John's Gospel — " This is eternal life, to know Thee, 
the ONLY Teue God, and Jesus Christ whom 
Thou hast Sent." In the same prayer He calls 
God his Father and invokes Him thus — " Glorify 
Thy SojN- that Thy Sois" may glorify Thee. " Thus 
we see He calls Himself the " Soisr of God." In 
this way He ever distinguishes His personality 
from the Father's. In reply to the opposing 
Jews He says — " If I judge, my judgment is true, 
for I am not alone, but I and the Father who 
sent Me. It is written in your law, that the wit- 
ness of two men is true. I am one that bear wit- 
ness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me 
beareth witness." In John x. 32, 36, the Jews 
had charged Him with blasphemy because He 
had called God His Father, to which He replies — 
^' Say ye of Him whom the Father hath sancti- 
fied and sent into the world. Thou blasphemest 
because I said, / am the Sois" of God ? " This is 
His true title, the Son of God. The Father is 
one, and Christ, as to His personality, is another, 
and not to be confounded except as to their charac- 
ters, their will, and their work. 

But He is not only the Son, He is the Oi^ly 
Begottejn" Son, as He tells us in John iii. 16 — 
" For God so loved the world that He gave His 
Ois-LY Begotten Sojst that whosoever believeth on 
Him should not perish but have everlasting life." 



34 ECCE VERITAS. 

Again, in verse 18tli— " He that believetli on Him 
is not condemned, but he that believeth not is 
condemned already, because he hath not believed 
on the Oi^LY Begotteis- Soi!T of GtOD." So as 
the Preexistent Son, He is the Ijegotten of God, 
from whose Fatherly and Motherly nature He 
sprung ; but in what mysterious way, of course, 
we know not ; but it must have been in such a 
manner of progeneration as to give to the Son 
the Nature and qualities of the Father, in such 
a sense and degree as to mahe Him the Ojs'LY Be- 
gotten" of the Father, bearing His impress, par- 
taking of His natural attributes and of His holi- 
ness and love — in a word, what the Apostle calls — 
"The Expeess IMAGtE of His Peeso:n-"; so 
that He fully represents the Father, just as a 
son, iDartaking the nature and attributes of his 
parents, stands as their representative, and to 
each another self. Hence the significance of 
these statements — " In Him dwelleth all the full- 
ness of the Godliead bodily." "And shall call 
His name Emmanuel, which is God with us." 
" All power is given into My hands, in Heaven 
and in earth." "All things are delivered to Me 
of My Father : and no man knoweth who the Son 
is but the Father, and who the Father is but the 
Son, and He to whom the Son shall reveal Him." 
" What things soever the Father doeth, these 
doeth the Son likewise ; for as the Father raiseth 
up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the 
Son quickeneth whom He will. For the Father 
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment 



THE TRUE CHBIST. 35 

Tinto the Son ; tliat all men slioiilcl honor the 
Son, even as they honor the Father.*' "As the 
Father hath life in. BQLmself . so hath He given to 
the Son to have life in Himself ; and hath given 
Him anthority to execute judgment also." '• He 
that hath seen Me hath seen the Father " — so 
completely did He represent Him. Comprehend- 
ing folly the idea here attempted to be presented, 
Panl Tvrites these remarkable words — " God hath 
in these last days spoken to ns by His Son, whom 
He hath aj^pointed heir of all things, by whom 
also He xade the woelds ; who being the bright- 
ness of His glory, and the Express Image of 
His Person, and npholding all things by the 
word of His power, sat down on the right hand 
of the Majesty on High ; being made so much 
better than the angels as He hath obtained a more 
excellent name than they. For unto which of 
the angels said He at any time : Thou art My 
So]S", this day have I begotten Thee? Again, 
when He bringeth the only begotten into the 
world, He saith : And let all the angels of God 
worship Him. Of the angels He saith : Who 
maketh His angel spirits and a flame of fire ; but 
unto the Sox He saith. Thy throne, O God, is 
forever and ever." 

Although possessed of these high attributes, 
and holding this exalted position. He is still the 
Sox and not the Father, who is the "Oxly 
True God," as He, Himself, says. As the Son, 
begotten, the Father must be of prior existence, 
while the Absoli^te Supremacy of His Authority, 



36 ECCE VERITAS. 

and somewliat of the Infinitude of His Knowl- 
edge mnst, in the nature of the case, remain un- 
communicated. These views and facts are recog- 
nized by Christ in the following expressions : — 
"It is not for you to know the times and the 
seasons v/hich the Father JiatJi put in His own 
power. ^'^ In speaking of His second coming, and 
when asked of the time of that event, Christ says : 
— " Of that day and of that hour knoweth no one, 
no, not the angels in Heaven, neither the Sot^, 
but My Father Oitly." Again, He says — " My 
Father is greater than I" (John xiv. 28). "My 
Father is greater than all" (John x. 39). "To 
sit on My right hand and on My left hand is is'OT 
MiisTE to gim^ but shall be given to them for whom 
it is prepared." And in corroboration of the su- 
preme, and in some things, the exclusive author- 
ity of God, the Father, it is written, — " Then 
Cometh the end ; when He shall have delivered 
up the kingdom to God, even the Father. For 
He (Christ) must reign till He hath put all ene- 
mies under His feet. For He (the Father) hath 
put all things under His (Christ's) feet. But 
when He saith, 'all things,' it is manifest that 
He is excepted who did put all things under 
Him. And when all things shall be subdued 
unto Him, then shall the Soi^, Himself, also be 
subject unto HIM that put all things under Him, 
that GOD may be ALL-IiST-ALL." 

Here we see Christ declaring the superior 
greatness of the Father ; as doing works not His, 
but the Father's ; that the times and the seasons 



THE TRUE CHRIST. 37 

the Father liath put in His own exclnsive power ; 
that to place on His right hand and on His left, 
is not His to give, but the Father's ; and finally, 
when all things are subdned under the Son, He 
delivers up the kingdom to GrOD even The Fa- 
ther, and becomes Himself subject to the Fa- 
ther, that " God may be ALL-IN-ALL." 

As to what time in the annals of eternity the 
Sois" sprang forth, so to speak, from the loins of 
the Father, is not for us to know. We only 
know that He existed before the foundation of 
the world, or as Christ says in His prayer to the 
Father — " Before the world was." He calls Him- 
self " the Beginning of the creation of God," and 
is made the Author of that creation, thus, — " He 
was in the beginning with God. All things were 
made by Him, and without Him was not anything 
made that was made." " God hath spoken unto 
us by His Son, whom He hath appointed Heir 
of all things ; by Whom also He made the 
WORLDS." "God who created all things by Je- 
sus Christ." " For by Him were all things crea- 
ted, visible or invisible, whether they be Thrones, 
or Dominions, or Principalities, or Powers ; — all 
things were created by Him, and for Him "; who 
is the Image of the invisible God, the First 
BoR]^ of every creature. " And He is Before all 
things, and by Him all things consist." 

Thus He is the creator of all visible things — 
the material universe ; of all invisible things. 
Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, and Powers 
— all the Hierarchies of Heaven, and so was 



38 ECCE VERITAS. 

the Head of those Hierarcliies nnder God, tlie 
Fathee, wliom Milton represents as addressing 
those supreme celestial powers in behalf of His 
Son in the following strain : — 

" Hear, all ye Angels, progeny of light, 
Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers — 
Hear My decree, which unrevoked shall stand. 
This day I have begot whom I declare 
My Only Son, and on this Holy Hill 
Him have anoiated, whom ye now behold 
At My Right Hand ; yom^ Head I Him appoint; 
And by Myself have sworn to Him shall bow 
All knees in Heav'n, and shall confess Him Lord." 

And then, as the Aistointed Leader of the 
Loyal Hosts of Heaven, he overthrew Satan and 
his infernal crew — 

' ' Drove them before him, thnnder-struck, pursued 
With terrors and with furies to the bounds 
And Chrystal Wall of Heav'n'; eternal wrath 
Burned after them to the Bottomless Pit." 

Thns was the Son before all created things, 
dwelling in the Bosom of the Eteei^al Father 
and wielding tl^iQ almighty powers He had derived 
from Him. With such i)rerogatives, well might 
the Apostle say of Him — " He, being in the Form 
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with 
God ; but was made in the likeness of men ; and 
became obedient nnto death, even the death of 
the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted 
Him and given Him a name above every name, 
that at the name of Jesus every knee shonld 



THE TRUE CHRIST. 39 

bow, of tliose in Heaven, and in tlie Eartli, 
and under the Eartli ; and that every tongue 
should confess that Jesus Cheist is Loed to the 
glory of GOD the FATHER." 

But this Preexistent, Only Begotten Son of the 
Father became Ikcaejs'ate. " The Woed " — the 
Embodiment of Wisdom, Teuth, and Love— 
"was made Flesh, and dwelt among us." He 
conjoined Himself to Humanity. How was this ? 
We cannot tell. Paul, when looking at it, cries 
out — " G-reat is the mystery of Godliness, — God 
Manifest in the Flesh ! " The conjoining of 
the Only Begotten, Preexistent Son of God with 
our Human Nature is supernatural — above all 
possible philosophical explanation. We can 
only say with John — "The Woed was made 
Flesh, and dwelt among us. We saw His glory 
as of the Only Begotten of the Father ;, full of 
Grace and Truth." The Fact w^as manifest 
enough. There was this Wonderful Being en- 
shrined in fleshly garb. His origin could be no 
other -than divine. His advent was celebrated on 
Earth, and in the Highest Heaven. "When God 
brought Him into the world. He said : — " Let all 
the angels of God worship Him." Accordingly, 
on that eventful night at Bethlehem, when Mary 
brought forth her first born Son, " the Angel of 
the Lord came down upon the shepherds, and the 
glory of the Lord shone round about them. And 
the Angel said. Behold, I bring you good tidings 
of great joy, which shall be to all people. For 
unto you is born this day, in the city of David, 



40 ECCE VERITAS. 

a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And sud- 
denly there was with the Angel a multitude of 
the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying- 
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, 
peace, goodwill toward men"; and doubtless a 
throng of angels, all the way to Heaven and 
throughout the celestial regions, took up the 
refrain — "Glory to God in the highest," and 
celebrated this Birth and Hypostatical TJk- 
101^ with loud Hosannas, and Worship of the 
IisrcARisrATE SoisT. 

The union of the Divine Son with our Human 
Nature was real and perfect — the Human, as de- 
rived from Adam, the progenitor of the human 
race ; the Divine, as derived from God, the Father, 
as the Progenitor of the Only Begotten Son. 
" Verily He took not on Him the nature of angels, 
but took on Him the seed of Abraham." The 
human nature He thus assumed did in nothing 
differ from that of our own with all its propensi- 
ties, tendencies, infirmities, its mortality and sub- 
jection to death. This condition of our human 
nature is not sinful, but of a tendency to sin ; 
for " sin is the transgression of the law — a vol- 
untary and overt act of disobedience. So it is 
said — "Death reigned over them who had not 
sinned after the similitude 0/ Adam's transgres- 
sion^^ that is, over children, irresponsible and 
sinless, but of hereditary mortality, and so sub- 
ject to death. Adam's sin was wilful personal 
disobedience, and he could not communicate it 
to his posterity, nor the guilt of it. But he could 



THE TRUE CHRIST. 41 

give Ms offspring no other nature than one like 
his own — one with the germs of sin, latent in the 
nature so given, and ever ready to take the form 
of overt transgression, if not resisted by the rea- 
son, the conscience and the will, those spiritual 
powers, which are also hereditary. This is a fact 
of human nature, as we find it. This propensity 
to evil, doubtless lies mainly in the animal or- 
ganization. Our birth is animal, with reason 
latent and in no wise active, and so the same, at 
first, as if we had none. Christ says — "That 
which is born of the flesh isJlesTi " — that is, alto- 
gether fleshly. Its tendency is, instinctive! y, ever 
to gratify every animal propensity to excess. Its 
cry is like that of the Horse-leech — ''give, giw.^^ 
ISTow this human nature, with whatever it 
originally possesses, Christ, Himself, assumed 
and made His own ; as it is said : " For as much 
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. 
He (Christ) also Himself likewise took part of the 
same. Wherefore in all things it heJioved Him 
to he made like unto His brethren, that He might 
be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things 
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the 
sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath 
suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor those 
who are tempted." It Behoved Him to be 
made like unto His brethren, that He might be 
'' touched wit\ \hQ feeling of our infirmities, and 
be in all points tempted like as we are, yet with- 
out sin." Born of the flesh. He had to conquer 
the flesh. Stormed by fleshly propensities. 



42 ECCE VERITAS. 

tempted in every point as we are, He had to beat 
down the legion of His assailants, and hold the 
Citadel of His Body intact of sin. So what 
is called the Immaculate Conception we see to be 
only a dogmatical fiction. The very purpose of 
God in sending His Son in the Flesh for the re- 
demption of the human race, excludes the idea 
of freedom from original evil tendencies in the 
Virgin Mary, as that very purpose rendered it 
necessary that Christ should take our nature as 
it is, with all its infirmities, tendencies, propen- 
sities, and temptations, and win the Battle for 
Himself and, through Himself, for us. " Because 
Thou hast hated iniquity and loved righteous- 
ness, therefore God, thy God, hath anointed 
Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy Fellows." 
There was an absolute necessity for the incar- 
nation of Christ ; for it was Humanity that He 
came to redeem by lifting it up in His own per- 
son to a pitch of perfection and glory, making it 
at once the Meatus of human redemption, and 
the Eteris'AL Symbol of that redemption. There 
was no other way possible of saving men. There 
was a Sar to any other way. It could not be in 
the nature of God, for His nature is Love, which 
involves all the infinite pity and mercy of the In- 
finite Father of the children of men. Indeed, 
His intense desire to save was the very cause of 
this Unspealcable Gift for our deliverance. 
Christ, Himself, affirms it to be so in this declara- 
tion : — " For God so loved the world that He gave 
His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 



THE TBUE CHRIST. 43 

on Him should not perisTi, but have everlasting 
life." And Grod Himself liatli affirmed it, as it 
were, in an agony of desire, where He exclaims : — 
" As I live, saith the Lord, 1 have no pleasure in 
the death of the wicked. Tuen ye, Tu^i^ ye 
from your evil ways, for wliy will ye die f " So 
if there had been any other way of salvation. His 
love and anxiety would have found it. 

But it is said in orthodox theology that, though 
His love was sufficient, there was a governmental 
bar in the way that must be removed. God's law 
had been broken, and eternal death was the pen- 
alty. This iDenalty must be met and the demands 
of the law must be vindicated by His Son's taking 
the place of the sinner, and paying the penalty 
which Divine Justice required at the hands of a 
guilty world ; but, in lieu thereof. He could and 
would accept the sacrifice of His Incarnate Son, 
whose sufferings and death should be an equiva- 
lent for the eternal sufferings of the whole human 
race ; so divine justice should be satisfied, the law 
be upheld and made honorable, and thus our re- 
demption be made possible. 

This statement of the doctrine of the substitu- 
tional sacrifice we believe to be correct. The 
doctrine we affirm to be untrue ; and demonstrate 
the truth of our affirmation thus : — First : l^o one, 
not even the Son of God in His agony in the 
garden and in His tortures and death upon the 
Cross, could endure sufferings that would be 
equivalent to the indescribable sufferings of each 
and every human being from the beginning of 



44 ECGE VERITAS. 

tlie world to its end, and those sufferings to be 
to all eternity, which, is the penalty that the 
proposition demands, and which Divine Justice 
must require, provided such sufferings were, in- 
deed, the penalty of God's violated Law. To 
state the case is to show its impossibility and ab- 
surdity. Secondly : Admitting, for the sake of 
the argument, that Christ could and did suffer 
this penalty for us, then, inevitably, is set free 
every soul of Adam's race ; for the penalty, once 
paid by our Substitute, could not again be ex- 
acted, and Eternal Justice must he Satisfied. 
But we know no such effect has followed the act 
of Christ, and therefore no such penalty has been 
endured by Him. God holds still the sinner re- 
sponsible, for "the soul that sinneth it shall die," 
notwithstanding Christ's death. Thirdly: The 
Equal Justice and Love of God could not and 
would not exact such a penalty of His innocent 
Son in substitution for the just punishment of 
the guilty sinner. ISTo human government pre- 
tending to any degree of justice in its adminis- 
tration would execute a Jcnown innocent man in 
place of a Jcnown murderer, even were that mur- 
derer the Sovereign or Chief Magistrate of the 
nation. And yet this dogma charges such an 
act of inherent, self-evident, and monstrous in- 
justice on the government of a just God, who ap- 
peals to our human sense of equity — " Shall not 
the Judge of all the earth do Right 1 " " The 
soul that sinnetJi it shall diey " The son shall 
not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall 



THE TRUE CHBIST, 45 

the father bear tlie iniquity of tlie son.^^ " Hear 
now, O Israel, is not My Way Equal ? " This 
is the principle of exact justice that Grod declares 
He acts upon. No substitution of one for an- 
other. But, Fourthly, and finally: It was im- 
possible that Christ should suffer even the true 
penalty of God's law. The violation of that law 
carries witli it and in it its own penalty, and 
consequently none other than the sinner can 
pay it. All penalty of sin, except those physical 
evils that fall upon the body through violation 
of the physiological laws, lies in the mind itself, 
and consists in the conscious sense of guilt and 
the consequent tortures of remorse when the soul 
is aroused to take full cognizance of its guilt, 
which it must do when set free from its present 
insensibility at death, if not before. This being 
the absolute philosophical fact, the nature of the 
penalty precludes the possibility of Christ's suf- 
fering it, who was innocent and holy from the 
first and always, and therefore no guilt or re- 
morse could, in the nature of the case, by any 
possibility enter His soul, which they must do to 
meet the consequences of the violated law. 

But still it remains true, that " Christ Jesus 
came into the world to save sinners," and there 
is no other way. It was not to placate God the 
Father and make Him willing to save ; nor to 
dispose of a governmental obstruction to the flow 
of God's love. The necessity of Christ's Incar- 
nation was two-fold — ^the one, springing from the 
Infinite and Absolute Perfections of God, which, 



46 ECCE VERITAS. 

it would seem, naturally shut Him out from com- 
munication with a sinful world that He was in- 
finitely anxious to save ; the other, originating 
in the utter lieljplessness of man to save himself, 
and yet requiring that he should have a Deliv- 
EEER of like nature to act as a Brother and 
Mediator between him and the otherwise unap- 
proo.cTiable God. 

In respect to the necessity of Christ's advent 
in the flesh as it relates to God, the Father, we 
find it said in the divine Word, which alone can 
be our guide in such a matter : " Thou canst not 
see my face ; for there shall no man see Me and 
live." And John says : " ISTo man hath Seei^ 
God at any time ; the Only Begotten Son, Who 
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath Declared 
Him." Thus, for some reason in the very nature 
of God, it was necessary for the Incarnate Son 
to declare Him, to open a medium of communi- 
cation between the Ii^visible and the Eter]S"al 
FATHER and the Human Race. As touching 
the human necessity, the case is clearer. The 
sinful race, in agony of despair, cries out — Lost 
Lost, unless God's love procure a Deliverer. 
" He saw that there was no man, and wondered 
that there was no Intercessor ; therefore. His own 
arm brought salvation unto him." God said : 
"Deliver him; I have found a Raitsom." But 
that ransom must be a Brother ; a partaker of 
our fiesh and blood. So, "when he cometh into 
the world he saith, a Body Thou hast prepared 
me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices Thou hast 



THE TRUE CHRIST. 47 

had no pleasure ; then, said I : Lo, I come to do 
Thy will, O God ; by which will we are sancti- 
fied by the offering of the Body of Jesus Cheist, 
once for all." "What the law could not do in 
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending 
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and 
for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the right- 
eousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who 
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For 
they that are after the flesh do mind the things 
of the flesh. For the carnal mind (the mind 
under the control of the flesh) is not subject to 
the law of God, neither indeed can be." Such 
was man's weakness, such his tendency to evil, 
that his case was hopeless unless One should be 
sent by the Father to take upon him our nature 
in which to conquer the dominance of the flesh, 
both as an Example of what we must become, 
and a Power to lift us up to that regenerated 
state. As the fallen victims of the flesh with all 
its selfish demands, and out of which all our 
wickedness springs, it is manifest that our 
Helper must be above and outside of ourselms, 
and yet one in sympathy with us by virtue of 
the law of our nature, since none of the involved 
in sin could by any means deliver his brother. 
That Exemplar and Power of deliverance is 
Christ the I:n'car]S'Ate So]^, "Whom it Be- 
hoved in all things to be made Like unto His 
Brethren." 

Besides the evil tendencies of our nature 
which He was to resist and subdue, there were 



48 ECGE VERITAS. 

the incidents of sickness, sorrow, suffering, and 
death, wliich He was to endure and conquer. Of 
these, He says : " I have baptism to be baptized 
with, and how am I straitened until it be accom- 
plished" — a baptism of sorrow, suffering, and 
death. And how He entered the very citadel of 
these things, storming the phalanx of these evils, 
that " He might be made perfect through suffer- 
ings ! " " For surely He hath borne our griefs 
and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for 
our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities ; 
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and 
with His stripes we are healed. He was oppressed 
and afflicted; He is brought as a lamb to the 
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is 
dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was 
taken from prison and from judgment ; for the 
transgression of My people was He stricken." 
And when the last agony came He cried out : 
" JN'ow is my soul exceeding sorrowful, even unto 
death." And then in the tortures of the cruci- 
fixion He finished His work for the Human 
Race. Yet, not quite finished : it only remained 
for Him to conquer death and the grave, and 
carry His Humanity to the Right Hand of 
God, "where for Us He has entered." Thus 
" through death He destroyed the power of 
death," exclaiming — " O, Death ! I will be thy 
plagues ; 0, Geave ! I will be thy destruction." 
" Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades, neither 
suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption." " Thou 
wilt show Me the paths of life." " I am He that 



THE TRUE CHRIST. ■ 4Q 

was dead; and behold I am alive Foeeyee- 
MOEE ; and liave the Keys of Hades and of 
Death ! " 

As love is the fulfilling of the law, so selfish- 
ness is the generic sin from which springs every 
other. It manifests itself instinctively and in- 
nocently enough in the infant, which, without 
regard to the feelings and interests of its own 
mother, will make any demand however unrea- 
sonable or fatal even to the mother to gratify 
itself. But when, to gratify these selfish propen- 
sities of the flesh, the child being old enough to 
know their reasonable limit, voluntarily goes be- 
yond that limit in excessive indulgence, sins 
against the laws of his own life and against God 
because against those laws, and so begins to de- 
velop that " carnal mind which is enmity against 
Grod, and is not subject to His law, neither indeed 
can be." And of course, when the child becomes 
the adult and continues the gratification in an 
excessive degree, his sin abounds proportionately ; 
and selfishness in every case is the cause. Be- 
coming the victim of his fleshly lusts he will fol- 
low his passions in whatever they demand to 
gratify 5eZ/--whether those passions urge him to 
gluttony, drunkenness, adultery, theft, or mur- 
der. As the wild beast in its raven for blood 
will not spare animal, man, woman, or child, so 
man, under the dominion of his fleshly lusts, will 
spare none outside of liimself^ whatever the wants 
and the rights of others may be. So in seeking 
to save the lost, the first demand of the Savior 



50 ECCE VERITAS. 

is — "De]S"t Thyself." His whole work of sal- 
vation is to anniliilate self and enthrone Loye. 
This is the fulfillment of the whole law — " Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and thy neighbor as thyself." This is, indeed, 
the law of the whole responsible universe, whether 
men, angels, or other intelligent beings, if there 
be any such. Thus and thus only is " God rec- 
onciling the world unto Himself by Jesus 
Christ." 

Adam was not created perfect nor immortal, 
though with tendencies to good, and with powers 
and capacities for improvement in obedience and 
holiness ; and his immortality was conditioned 
on that attainment of holy character. But he 
lapsed, and his posterity find themselves unable 
to recover the lost ground ; but Christ, as the 
second Adam, has made the conquest for us by 
lifting His Humanity to the pitch and glory of 
that perfection to which Adam by long- continued 
obedience would have attained. So, and not other- 
wise, is Paradise Regaevted. And for this end. 
He is the " Lamb of Gob, that taketh away the sin 
of the world"; — the "Lamb slain from tiiQ foun- 
dation of the world," in the vocabulary of God, 
" who calleth those things that are not as though 
they^^ere." And moreover, knowing the impos- 
sibility of man to recover himself, or even to make 
the first move without help, the merciful and sym- 
pathizing Deliverer anticipating this stupor 
and imbecility of the natural man, becomes the 
" True Light that enlighteneth every man that 



THE TRUE CHRIST. 51 

Cometh into the world," by virtue of His " Spirit, 
a manifestation of which is given to every man 
to profit withal"; such preliminary assistance 
being a part of the plan of salvation through the 
incarnation of Christ. Hence He says — ^"No 
man cometh unto Me except the Father that sent 
Me draw him." So, as ''the Lamb slain from 
the foundation of the world," and by virtue of 
His Spirit moving upon the human mind as the 
fruit of that sacrifice. He becomes, from the he- 
ginning, the universal Savior — not of the Se- 
mitic races only, but of every nation of the whole 
earth. His divine love, mercy, and peace reach 
" to him that is far off as well as to him that is 
near." "In every nation he that feareth God 
and worketh righteousness is accepted with 
Him"; for it is the "Spirit that proceedeth 
from the Father," through the incarnate Son, 
whereby " the world is convinced of sin, and of 
righteousness, and of judgment"; thereby leav- 
ing all men without excuse for continued resist- 
ance of those principles of righteousness, truth, 
and love, which Christ embodies, represents, and 
upholds. This Divine, and sympathizing, and 
loving Savior, who has said — Without Me ye 
can do nothing, is doing all His infinite resources 
can supply to supplement our wealcness with 
strength, to awaken desire, to kindle hope, to 
help our faith, and make salvation possible to 
the " chief of sinners," — even to those who have 
never seen Him or heard of Him. And these lat- 
ter are saved as much through faith in Him 



52 ECCE VERITAS. 

as are those who liave seen Him ; for faith, in 
Him is faith in His Principles in both cases, 
as He Himself hath affirmed, — " Love the Lord, 
thy God, with all thy heart, and thy neigh- 
bor as thyself. Do this ai^d thou shalt live," 
— a law that is universal, and which He Himself 
embodies and represents, which to receive and 
obey is to receive and obey Him ; and this is 
Faith. "When saw we Thee naked, and 
clothed Thee? tmngry, and fed Thee? thirsty, 
and gave Thee drink? sick and in prison, and 
came unto Thee ? And Christ answered and 
said, — Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of 
the least of these My brethren, ye have done it 
unto Me." These were those who never saw, and 
yet had such faith in the principle of impartial 
and universal love as to make it practical in their 
lives ; and this was faith in Christ Himself, and, 
in the final Judgment, is " counted unto them 
for righteousness," because it wrought that Love 
which is the "fulfilling of the whole law"; and 
wrought by those divine influences that the 1e- 
caet^ate Cheist wields for the salvation of all 
men, as well " those that 2j:e.far off, as them that 
are near^ This view of the case will be still far- 
ther demonstrated as we proceed with this inves- 
tigation. 

It still remains to offer some thoughts in clos- 
ing this Chapter. The union of the Divine Son 
with the Humanity constitutes the Oiste Christ 
and Savioe, never to be disconnected. As such 
One He calls Himself, indifferently, " the Son of 



THE TRUE CHRIST 53 

Man," or "the Son of God." But He is ever the 
Cheist of Principles — ^the Embodiment of Wis- 
dom, Truth and Love ; and as such. He com- 
mends Himself to our acceptance. Jesus uses 
Avords more interior^ more spiritual than any 
other. When He speaks of Himself He hardly 
ever refers to the person born of Mary and visi- 
ble to the eyes of His auditors, but to the sub- 
stance and qualities of a moral embodiment, in 
which and by which He lived a divine life, mov- 
ing above the visible sphere in the realm of the 
Unseen in communion with the Absolute, the 
True, the Eternal — in the very Bosom of God, 
and was set free from the dominance of relative 
ideas in respect to Time and Place. With Him, 
as with the Father, there was no past, no future, 
but an Eternal IN'ow. So He says — "Before 
Abraham was I am.^'' "No man hath ascended 
into Heaven but He that came down from Heaven, 
even the Son of Man who is in Heaven.''^ Like 
God, "He calleth those things that are not as 
though they were," and^s^Deaks of the " Lamb of 
God as slain from the foundation of the world,"— 
ever being done, an always present fact. This 
we shall see to be so if we get at the reality of 
things. Says Mr. Carlyle, in Sartor Resartus, — 
" The curtains of Yesterday drop down, the cur- 
tains of To-morrow roll up ; but Yesterday and 
To-morrow both are. Pierce through the Time- 
Element ; glance into the Eternal. Time and 
Space are not God, but creations of God ; with 
God as it is a universal Here, so it is an Ever- 



54 ECCE VERITAS. 

lasting Now." " Tliink well, thon wilt find that 
Space is but a mode of our human sense, so like- 
wise Time ; there is no Space and no Time : We 
Are." 

Christ, as we said, is at home in the Absolute^ 
where time and space are annihilated, and His 
speech often conforms to the great' Fact that 
penetrates and overwhelms His soul. The thin 
neil of sense that shuts Him in with men, be- 
comes a tJiicJc veil to shut tJiem out from that 
home where He has His real life. So when He 
enters upon His work, fresh from that deep com- 
munion and home in the bosom of the Father, 
His speech rises to the very plane of absolute 
things. Thus we hear Him saying: "I am the way, 
the truth, and the life ; no man cometh unto the 
Father but by Me." "And ye will not come 
unto Me that ye might have life." "He that 
eateth Me shall live by Me." The sensuous Jews 
misconceived him and were often confounded by 
his words, and even some of his disciples were 
still so enthralled by sense as not to be able at 
times to comprehend his meaning, and he had to 
explain himself, as when he says : "He that eat- 
eth Me shall live by Me," they murmured, say- 
ing : " How can He give us His flesh to eat ? " 
To which Christ reijlies ; " The fles7i profiteth 
nothing ; the words that I speak unto you, they 
are spirit^ they are life " — that is, are altogether 
spiritual and of Zz/'e- giving power. In the 
same spiritual sense He says : " I am the bread 
of life. Except ye eat My flesh and drink My 



THE TRUE CHRIST. 55 

blood ye have no life in yon"; tlie flesh and 
blood being Symbols of His moral qnalities — of 
His Spiritual Self. Again : " If any man tliirst, 
let Mm come nnto Me and drink." '' Whosoever 
shall drink of the water I will give him it shall be in 
him a well of water, springing np into everlasting 
life." These and many like passages of His dis- 
conrses, show how utterly He lost sight of His 
visible personality ; and how constantly He re- 
fers to that substantial Self, the embodiment of 
spiritual principles, living a life altogether di- 
vine. The " I " and the " Me," in Christ's language, 
stand for the things that constitute His moral 
nature — the truth, love, and rigJiteousness of His 
Chaeacter ; and as such He is the Representa- 
tive of the Father ; the " Image of the Invisible 
God, enshrined in the visible Flesh." So, look- 
ing through and beyond the Veil of the Flesh, 
behold the " Teuth and the Life " couched un- 
der the " I " and the ^' Me " of Cheist's speech, 
and constituting what we have chosen to call — 
His Esse]s^tial self. 

Turn we now more fully to the Teachings and 
Work of Cheist, constituting the practical means 
by which He would bring " Sinners to repent- 
ance," effect the " world's reconciliation to God," 
and fulfill His Mission of mercy and salvation to 
the lost. 



CHAPTEE ly. 
cheist's seemo^ oit the mount. 

Cheist, like Socrates, wrote no books ; He 
made no formal System of Ethics, and fonnded 
no school of Theology, or of PMlosophy. He 
addressed Himself directly to men by the power 
of Speech ; appealed to their reason, their hearts, 
their consciences, their intuitions. As Socrates 
attacked the Sophists for their pedantic specula- 
tions and self-seeking, so Jesus attacked the 
Scribes and Pharisees, the Doctors of the Jew- 
ish Law, who had "made void" the genuine 
Law "by their traditions." Like Socrates, he 
was hated by false teachers, who were his bitter 
enemies through life, and who, finally, put Him 
to death upon the Cross, as did the enemies of 
the great Gfreek at Athens, by poison, four hun- 
dred years before, and by a similar conspiracy. 
As Plato and Xenophon reveal the character, the 
life, and philosophy of their Master in their writ- 
ings, so Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record 
the life, the character, and " wonderful works " 
of Jesus in the Gospels. 

Cheist did not deal with questions of Theol- 

(56) 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT 57 

ogy, but ^Yith. Regenerative Principles, and the 
Precepts of a virtuous and h-oly life. These Pre- 
cepts and Principles are largely embodied in 
what is called His Sekimon oi^ the Mount. It 
will not be necessary to qnote, in detail, these 
wonderful sayings of the Great Teacher ; as 
the reader can open his ISTew Testament and read 
them for himself in the 5th, 6th, and 7th Chap- 
ters of Matthew. On these hallowed sayings, 
which were delivered as by One " having author- 
ity, and not as the Scribes," we offer some gen- 
eral observations to show how searching their 
spirit, how comprehensive their meaning, how 
profound their wisdom and spirituality, how 
wide and far-reaching their application, and 
how entirely they meet all the moral and spir- 
itual demands of both the individual and so- 
ciety. 

That Christ reproduced truths and moral 
maxims as old as the world, and some of them 
in forms substantially the same as others had 
employed before, both in his own and other na- 
tions, is to be admitted. It had been said, in 
similar form before and elsewhere, "All things 
whatsoever ye would that men should do unto 
you, do ye even the same unto them." From the 
beginning and everywhere, it would be natural 
for men to say to one another, "You should. do 
thus and so to your fellow, for you would like 
to have him treat you thus in similar circum- 
stances." And " You should not do that you are 
about to do, for you, yourself, would not like to 
3* 



58 ECCE VERITAS. 

be treated in sucli a way." This springs from 
tliat universal response of tlie conscience to the 
law of Justice, when the application is made in 
our own interest, and, therefore, demands the 
application of it in the interest of another. 

JSTot only the love of our neighbor, but even of 
enemies, had also been inculcated, occasionally, 
even in heathen countries, by exceptionally hu- 
mane men, before Christ had said, " Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself." " Love your ene- 
mies ; do good to them that hate you and de- 
spitefuUy use you." So also that victory over 
the incidents of being which we meet with in 
such teachings as these: "Labor not for the 
meat that perisheth "; " Take no thought for the 
morrow, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, 
or for the body, what ye shall put on." "Fear 
not them that can kill the body"; and "in pa- 
tience possess ye your souls " — we say, this rising 
above the incidents of life, had been essentially 
taught by some of the old Grecian philosophers 
and Hindoo seers, who turned their eyes to the 
Infinite and the Unseen, urged virtue, and the 
ascendency of the soul over the things of the vis- 
ible world, even over fear and death. 

But, after admitting this, where will you 
find one who has taught these things so clearly 
and persistently ? And, in the breadth and scope, 
in the spirit and manner of His teachings, and 
the principles on which He bases them, there is 
no parallel between Jesus and any of the Ori- 
ental or Western Sages of the ancient world, 
with whom writers are wont to compare Him. 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 59 

He transcends all others by basing virtue on 
principles, tlins conforming to the Law of ad- 
solute causes. Purity of heart, humility of soul, 
indwelling benevolence, a merciful spirit, recti- 
tude of purpose, were the foundations of charac- 
ter with Him, without which, however austere or 
seemingly innocent the life might be, it was but 
a semblance of virtue, a hollow hypocrisy. 
"Blessed are the pure in liearty "Blessed 
are the poor in spirits "Blessed are they 
who hunger and tJiirst after righteousness." 
"Blessed are the meelc.^^ " Make the tree ^06)(^, 
and t^LQ fruit sJiall he good also.^'^ "Men do not 
gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles.^'' " A 
good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can 
a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." " A good 
man out of the good treasure of Ms Heart bring- 
eth forth that which is good; and an evil man 
out of the evil treasure of his Heart, bringeth 
forth that which is evil.^'' 

These are some of the statements in which 
Christ embodies His fundamental idea of the or- 
igin of a true and evU life. The Heart is the 
source of thought and action, and must be pure, 
humble, loving, upright, or there is no sound 
character, and goodness is, at best, but a pre- 
text, or the casual product of circumstances, 
which, as they are ever changing, may necessi- 
tate a good action to-day, but the reverse to- 
morrow ; the soul being without principle and 
subject to no uniform moral law, and hence 
without an adequate cause of a virtuous life. 



60 ECCE VERITAS. 

No teacher, like Christ, ever so wholly directed 
his teachings to the springs of moral action, lay- 
ing the foundations of virtue in the radical in- 
tegrity of the inner man, and predicating inno- 
cence or guilt of the state of the Heart. 

With the Great Teacher, unreasonable anger 
is murder, and an evil eye and cherished lust is 
adultery. "Out of the heart proceedeth adul- 
teries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphe- 
mies." Assuming this primal fact, of the state 
of the heart determining the quality of the ac- 
tion, Christ builds upon it His Preceptive Sys- 
tem. He thus, and thus only, sought the ref- 
ormation of men and society, making virtue to 
repose, where it can only repose, on Inde- 
structible Principles. 

The Precepts of Jesus are unequalled, also, be- 
cause they inculcate, not only the sterner virtues, 
and of the most manifest necessity, but those of 
more delicate mould, least common, scarcely no- 
ticed or wholly passed over by others, and yet 
essential in the highest degree, and really the 
test virtues of character. Where these exist, the 
character must be wholly sound ; and where they 
are wanting, it must be. essentially false. 

Honesty, truthfulness, placability, temperance, 
chastity, and all the sterner virtues. He incul- 
cated with a clearness, a directness, an earnest- 
ness, and a power unequalled by any of the old 
philosophers or modern moralists. But He went 
further, penetrated deeper into the subtile ele- 
ments of genuine goodness, covering ground that 



CHEIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 61 

scarcely ever fell within the field of vision of 
other men. His code not only forbids aggression 
upon others, bnt prohibits retaliation for injuries 
done to ourselves. " Ye have heard it hath been 
said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth ; 
but I say unto you, resist not evil"; a precept 
that was in no Pagan code. The law of retalia- 
tion was almost, if not quite, universal, and 
thought to be honorable. Nations, clans, and 
families, claimed a hereditary right of revenge, 
out of which the modern duel took its origin. 
Even the Jews had inculcated retaliation, which 
was the immediate reason why the True Teacher 
announced and enforced the inhibition. This is 
not the prohibition of self-defence in the pres- 
ence of threatened serious bodily harm, but of 
inflicting evil by our own hand for injury or in- 
sult already received. It is the abrogation of 
the " lex talionisy The goodness of heart insist- 
ed on by Christ, excludes the ill-will that would 
prompt to the act of revenge. The meekness 
and forbearance of the injured prove the depth 
of his human love, and the generosity of his na- 
ture, more than a heroic act that might save the 
life of a fellow-man. He who, from love, would 
refrain from returning evil for evil, would cer- 
tainly rescue his fellow-man from death when in 
his power ; but one might save the life of another 
without the true brotherly love characteristic of 
genuine goodness ; and so the former act, cer- 
tainly showing the character good, becomes, what 
we said — a test virtue. 



62 ECCE VERITAS. 

Again. It is a common virtue to reciprocate 
favors, or to lend wlien we expect a return of the 
tiling lent, or its equivalent. But the law of 
Jesus is : " From him that would borrow of thee, 
turn not thou away; lend hoping for nothing 
again." Lend even more freely to the poorest, 
whom you have reason to think may not be able 
to make return, than to him who you know will 
make the return sure. In the latter case there 
is no certain proof of the higher style of gener- 
osity, while in the former the demonstration is 
complete. 

In like manner, men may give generous enter- 
tainments to respectable friends and neighbors, 
and gain a name for hospitality ; but, in the 
teachings of Jesus, to companionate with the 
poor, the despised, and the outcasts, and to make 
them the partakers of our hospitality, are the 
test of a true benevolence, and the spirit of broth- 
erhood. " When thou makest a feast," says the 
Benevolent One, '' call not thy friends and thy 
rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again and 
recompense thee ; but call the poor, the lame, the 
maimed, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed ; 
for they cannot recompense thee ; for thou shalt 
be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." 
" If ye do good to them who do good to you, 
what thank have ye ? for sinners also do the 
same." So here, again, it is the extraordinary 
virtue that proves the genuine character ; for 
the ordinary ones the good and the bad may 
both, alike, perform. 



CHBISrS SERMON ON THE MOUNT, 63 

In the teachings of Jesiis loords are significant, 
and stand for realities, and must be carefully 
weighed and wisely employed, for they justify 
or condemn. " Let your communication be Yea, 
yea ; Nay, nay : for whatsoever is more than 
these, Cometh of evil." "For every idle word 
that men shall speak, they shall give account 
thereof in the day of Judgment. " " By thy 
words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words 
thou shalt be condemned." Socrates, also, made 
much of words ; but their importance to him was 
to clearly express the intellectual idea. Christ 
does not consider them in a philological sense at 
all, but as expressive of the state of the heart. 
Vain and evil words, in His strict ethics, reveal a 
want of truth and seriousness, that shows the 
falsity of the inner man, that might, otherwise, 
not be detected. Men guard against gross of- 
fences, that strike down the character at a blow, 
but drop, often, words, as the saying is, that 
speak volumes as to that character. Such is 
Christ's incisive method of detecting the shal- 
lowness and falseness of men. 

By His ethics, ostentation and self-seeking are 
forbidden. " Do not your alms before men, to 
be seen of them." "Be not as the hypocrites, 
who love to pray standing in the synagogues, 
that they may be seen of men ; but when thou 
prayest enter into thy closet." "The Scribes 
and Pharisees do all their works to be seen of 
men." "They love the uppermost rooms at 
feasts, and the chief seats in the Synagogues, 



64 ECCE VERITAS. 

and greetings in the markets, and to be called of 
men, Rabbi, Rabbi." "But be ye not called 
Rabbi." " Do not after tbeir works." 

That Christ sternly forbids dishonesty, extor- 
tion, domination, and oppression by means of 
wealth, does not specially distinguish His teach- 
ing ; but when He strikes at the root, at the 
spirit of avarice^ in bidding us " beware of cov- 
etousness"; and when He excludes the very pos- 
sibility of dishonesty and the dominance of 
wealth, by subordinating the material to the 
spiritual, as He does in such passages as these — 
" Seek first the kingdom of God and His right- 
eousness," and " Lay not up for yourselves treas- 
ures upon Earth," He displays a standard of ex- 
cellence, touching our relation to riches, that is 
transcendent and distinctive, thereby making His 
disciples complete victors over the world, leaving 
them without, even, the temptation to avarice, 
extortion, and oppression of the poor. " If thou 
wilt be perfect, go sell that thou hast, and give 
to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
Heaven," embodies His ethics as to the use of 
wealth. This is the principle — Hold all you have 
for benevolent ends, after meeting the demands 
of justice and supplying the wants of those de- 
pendent on you. It is only such that give the 
sure test of discipleship. " It is easier for a 
camel to go through the eye of a needle, than 
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven," 
is another of His sayings. The reason is, as He 
taught, the rich man is one who holds his wealth, 



CHRIST^ S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 65 

as a general rule, for Ms own gratification, while, 
the heavenly minded is "poor in spirit," and 
calls nothing that he has his own, but holds it 
all as steward of God, for the benefit of mankind. 

It is thus, in these more delicate and higher 
wrought forms of goodness, that Christ's instruc- 
tions touch a plane far above that on which other 
teachers have lived and moved. 

Once more we remark, that Christ transcended 
all others in proclaiming the Fatheehood of 
God, and the Beotheehood of mankind. " Ois-e 
is your Fathee, and all ye are Beetheeis"," is 
the Formula in which He announces the univer- 
sally unrecognized truth of the common origin, 
the common nature, and the consequent common 
brotherhood of the race. He then gives us the 
Fraternal and Social Law — " Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself," and " All things that ye 
would that men should do unto you, do ye even 
the same unto them." And although this was 
not essentially a new law, now introduced for the 
first time, yet in the hands of Jesus, as infused 
with His spirit, backed by the power of His ex- 
ample, and as illustrated and applied by Him, in 
a manner never before known, it was practically 
new and introduced the Dispensation of Recip- 
rocal Justice and Good Will, the Authorship of 
which, everywhere and forever, must be conceded 
to Jesus of Nazareth. The Reciprocal Law, as 
expounded and enforced by Him, touches the 
summit of perfection, and so makes Him forever 
the Ethical Teacher of the world. 



m ECCE VEEITAS. 

Mark the sublime height and breadth to which 
He expands this Law of Reciprocal Love. When 
it was demanded of Him, "Who is my neigh- 
bor ? " He takes for illustration, not one of His 
own nation, but one of another and hated peo- 
ple — a Samaritan, who fulfils the law toward an 
unfortunate Jew, his enemy. This Jew had 
"fallen among thieves, who had stript and 
wounded him, leaving him half dead." The 
Jewish " Priest and Levite saw him and passed 
by on the other side," not coming near him for 
fear of contracting uncleanness by coming in 
contact with the dead, for such they supposed 
he was, their notions of legal cleanness being 
stronger than their humanity, or even national 
sympathy, he being one of their own people. 
" But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, saw him and 
had compassion on him, bound up his wounds, 
pouring in oil and wine, set him on his own 
beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of 
him. And on the morrow, when he departed, 
took out two pence and gave them to the host, 
and said, ' Take care of him ; and whatsoever 
those spendest more, when I come again I will 
repay thee.' " " Which now of these three," said 
Jesus, "was neighbor to him that fell among 
thieves \ " The inquirer answered, " He that had 
mercy on him." "Then said Jesus unto him, 
Go thou and do likewise," — recogiiize those of 
other nations, though enemies, as thy brethren, 
and " love them as thyself." And to show fur- 
ther the comprehensiveness of the law, and the 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 67 

absolute nniversality of its application, He says, 
" Love your enemies, bless tliem that curse you 
and despitef uUy use you and persecute you ; that 
ye may be the children of your Father who is in 
Heaven ; for He maketh His sun to rise on the 
evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just 
and on the unjust." "Be ye, therefore, perfect, 
even as your Father, in Heaven, is perfect." As 
the Father recognizes all as His children, and, in 
the order of nature, bestows His Providential 
blessings upon all, so we are to look upon all as 
our equal brothers, of the same essential rights 
and interests as ourselves, and yield to them the 
justice and good- will to which they are entitled, 
as the children of God. Such is the sweep of 
the Humanity of Christ. 

JSTo man nor nation before had grasped the 
principle of the Unity of the Human Family, 
and the binding Law of Fraternity. All nations 
were exclusive, and in hostile attitude the one 
toward the other, and thought themselves justi- 
fied, not only to fight and conquer other people, 
but to slaughter or enslave them after the con- 
quest. ISTor was there any proper fraternity in 
any nation among its own people. They were 
divided into rulers and aristocracy, on the one 
hand, and plebeians or slaves on the other. There 
were no common interests or sympathy between 
them ; nor much in either class, among them- 
selves, to bring them together in close fraternity, 
especially among the lower orders and the slaves. 
A common suffering might combine them for 



68 ECCE VERITAS. 

self-defence ; as when Spartacus rallied Ms fel- 
low-slaves against tlie Roman State, when it was 
slaughtering them by thousands in the arena for 
the amusement of ladies and gentlemen of the 
aristocratic class. And even Cato, the Censor, 
held as a model of Roman virtue, could rid him- 
self of his old and wornout slaves by selling them 
for a trifle rather than to be at the expense of 
their support, as we are told by Plutarch, who 
says of this act of the old Roman, " I cannot but 
charge it to the account of a mean and ungener- 
ous spirit." "^ If Cato was a model of Roman 
nobleness, what must have been the average 
Roman philanthropist ? Charitable institutions 
were nowhere extant, and private benevolence 
was small, and never rose to a general custom. 

It was in such a state of the world, and under 
these circumstances of widely diffused selfish- 
ness and inhumanity, that Christ launched His 
Law of Universal Love, which has filled the 
Christianized nations with a wide private spon- 
taneous sympathy and benevolence, and created 
thousands of public Institutions of Charity. 

In the universal recognition of the Law of Love, 
we reach the Foundation of Social Order, and the 
theoretical Brotherhood becomes the Brother- 
hood in Fact. Under such a law everything 
must go right. Everything contrary to love is 
excluded ; everything that love requires is com- 
prehended. " Love worketh no ill to our neigh- 



* Plutarch's Lives : Article, Cato the Censor, p. 237. 



CHRISrS SERMON ON THE MOUNT, 69 

bor," and makes sure to Mm the fulfilment of 
every obligation that tlie rights of his nature or 
the necessities of his condition can demand. 
This will prevent "laying heavy burdens on 
men's shoulders," while the oppressor " touches 
them not with one of his fingers," and will assure 
the removal of those with which men are already 
oppressed. It will prevent the creation of arti- 
ficial distinctions, and abolish such as now weigh 
upon society and sunder its members into sects, 
and clans, and castes. For race, color, sex, or 
poverty, no one will have any right or privilege 
the less ; the pursuit of happiness will be equally 
open to all ; self-seeking be expelled, and char- 
acter alone will be the measure of worth, and 
determine the social status. Such a law, being 
the spontaneous expression of a just and gener- 
ous spirit, will "feed the hungry, clothe the 
naked, set free the slave and the captive, visit 
the sick and imprisoned," restore the erring and 
fallen, educate the ignorant, vindicate the in- 
jured, give labor its just reward and capital its 
just return, break down the walls of bigotry and 
pride, and so end all injustice, suffering, animos- 
ity, and strife, and bring heart to heart, to beat 
in sympathy, and hand to hand, to "bear one 
another's burdens." 

But the GrEEAT Teacher not only thus com- 
prehensively lays down the great Eegenerating 
Law, but, throughout His teachings, all these 
particular applications of it were made, illus- 
trated, and enforced, while in every case where 



70 ECCE VERITAS. 

His relations to society made it possible, His 
own character and action were a living proof of 
its perfect practicability. " The princes of the 
Gentiles," He says, " exercise dominion over 
them, and they that are great exercise authority 
upon them, but so it shall not be among you ; 
but whosever will be chief est shall be the servant 
of all." No superiority but in the labors of love. 
" Even the Son of Man came not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister." " If I, your Lord and 
Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to 
wash one another's feet," is His example of 
humility, self-devotion, and radical instruction 
in the law of fraternal love. He teaches, " Freely 
ye have received, freely give"; then holds an 
open purse for the poor, supplies food for the 
faint and weary, brings relief to the sick and the 
disabled, and "binds up the broken-hearted"; 
rebukes them who "devour widows' houses," 
and "lay heavy burdens on men's shoulders," 
and then bids the injured and " heavy ladened 
to come unto Him " for relief ; literally and 
characteristically " going about and doing good "; 
and finally, ajnid reproach and the most terrible 
sufferings, gives the supremest proof of self- 
sacrifice by yielding His life for the human 
race. 

Thus the Teachings of Jesus sweep the whole 
field of personal and social duty, without stint 
and without excess, and without mixture of 
weakness or error, and so are absolutely perfect, 
bearing Humanity to the pitch of supreme excel- 



CHRIST S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 71 

lence. What will you add from tlie ancient 
Oriental philosopMes or religions to make them 
better, more full or complete ? What from the 
wisdom of the middle ages and the modern 
world ? The best products of these sources are 
weak in comparison ; much is involved in error^ 
and some of the ancient religions and inculca- 
tions are either puerile or monstrous, and often 
with a mixture of both. 

The Precepts of Jesus are simple Truth, fuU 
and complete, profound and sublime, justifying 
the statement — "JSTever man spake like this 
man." They embody the highest ideal of moral 
excellence, answering to the highest demands of 
Human Nature, and expressing what we may 
conceive to be the Divine Standard of character 
and duty, and so, in that sense, are a Revelation 
of God. 

The world is still weltering in crime, confusion, 
and wretchedness for lack of the practical real- 
ization of the Ethics of Jesus. They are severely 
pure, and, therefore, distasteful and unwelcome to 
men, who are befooled with vain philosophies, 
beguiled with the show of the sensuous, and be- 
deviled with the spirit of selfishness, and, hence, 
are ever resorting to expedients for personal 
repose, and social order, and happiness, with 
such results as we see — ^lack of character, per- 
sonal unrest, and social conflict. The remedy is 
announced by the Great Teacher — " Learn of 
Me, and ye shall find rest to your souls." 

Wonderful Teacher ! this Jewish Moralist and 



72 ECCE VEBITAS. 

Regenerator ! How clear His vision ; how pro- 
found His thonglit ; liow compreliensive His 
words ; liow philosopMcal His methods ; and 
how absolutely His principles and the rules in 
which they are couched work the perfection of 
man and society ! Learn of Him, and the fruit 
of the lesson is purity and inward harmony and 
Rest. Human nature is set free of its embar- 
rassments, and made victor over the sensuous 
world. As the regenerated units increase, social 
improvement corresponds ; and when upright- 
ness and love are the qualities of the wJiole, 
Fraternal Justice is established, the Brotherhood 
is recognized, and its Law of Love is everywhere 
and in all things accepted and embodied, the 
Ideal becomes Actual, and the actual SU- 
PREME. Local feuds and national wars are 
thus and forever at an end ; personal unrest and 
misery cease, and the Regenerated Society, con- 
templated and provided for by Christ, becomes a 
glad and beautiful Realization. 

If one may be made perfect by the Precepts of 
Jesus, then may more^ then may all. That some, 
that many have, we know ; and in them we have 
the demonstration that Christ is not a senti- 
mental Dreamer, whose code is fit only for 
Utopia, but is altogether and grandly practical, 
on the accepting of which and its supremacy 
among men hangs the Hope of the World. 

Through the ages the power of Christ's spirit 
has been working towards this end. JSTot only 
have innumerable millions, by His regenerating 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 73 

truth, leaped from darkness into light, and taken 
their places in the " Kingdom of God," but so- 
ciety and governments have partaken of its in- 
fluence, and been made to yield, more or less 
extensively, to its transforming agency. 'No 
longer do victorious armies exercise the ancient 
right, with rare exceptions, of slaughtering the 
conquered foe, or reducing them to slavery ; and 
wars, themselves, are now, to a considerable ex- 
tent, prevented, by convention and diplomacy of 
the interested parties, or by friendly powers. 
Slavery has almost universally yielded to the 
all-potent influence of the principles of Christ ; 
for by no other means was it possible to achieve 
such a victory over selfishness and the love of 
despotic power. The duel has well-nigh been 
abolished, and the slayer's life is no longer at 
the mercy of the family avenger, as a rule of the 
social code, and if exceptional cases occur, they 
are condemned and not upheld, as in ancient 
society. Private hate and the conflict of selfish 
feelings and interests are widespread, but more 
and more men are coming into fraternal har- 
mony, through growing kindliness and mutual 
interests, so different from the hostility of the 
ancient clan. Institutions of charity for relief, 
and for the prevention of poverty, disease, and 
vice, of cruelty to children, and even to animals, 
have sprung up in the track of Gospel influence. 
Although, perhaps, these results are not recog- 
nized as the fruits of Christ's work, by society, 
yet, nevertheless, they owe their origin and sup- 
4 



74 ECCE VERITAS. 

port to tlie Truths that were uttered more than 
eighteen hundred years ago, by the Divine 
Teacher who proclaimed them in the Seemo]^ 
ON THE Mount. And the power of Christ 
shall increase, till it compasses all nations, all 
governments, and all departments of society, 
" God's will be done on Earth as it is done in 
Heaven"; and Christ "see of the travail of His 
soul, and be Satisfied." What is not done 
before shall be consummated at His Second 

APPEARINa. 



CHAPTER Y. 

SEEMON 01^ THE MOUITT COITTINUED. — A CEITI- 
CISM. 

The Preceptive part of Christ's teachings have 
generally escaped animadversion ; almost wholly 
from malignant attack. The Jews, to compass 
His death, were obliged to resort to the false 
charge of blasphemy, and treason against Csesar. 
Pilate, in justice to his prisoner, declared — "I 
find no fault in this man"; and the officers who 
were sent to arrest Jesus, overwhelmed with His 
words, exclaimed, as an excuse for not bringing 
Him, "Never man spake like this man." The 
enemies of Christ arise from other causes than 
the purity of His character, and the truth and 
beauty of His precepts. They are unwilling to 
abandon selfishness and sensuality, which Jesus 
so strenuously insists upon as the one thing 
essential, and hence their opposition. They do 
not deny the excellence of the abstract precept, 
but, if it is to be insisted on as a practical matter, 
they rebel. 

But there is a class of friendly persons of over- 
critical turn of mind, who think many of the 

(75) 



76 ECCE VERITAS. 

precepts of Christ are fancifulj sentimental, and 
altogether impracticable, at least, except in 
Utopia. Some of these have stated their views 
in writing, and have made a serions matter of 
what they deem the mistaken ethics of Jesus. 
One of these writers, Mr. 0. B. Frothingham, a 
gentleman of position and culture, some time 
ago published an essay, entitled, '' The Ethics of 
Sentiment and of Science," in which he treats 
the Sermon on the Mount as sentimental and 
impracticable. In order to expand our thoughts 
on the pure and beautiful teachings of this Ser- 
mon, we shall offer some animadversions on Mr. 
Frothingham's statements. The criticism is not 
intended to be controversial, though it must of 
necessity take that form. Our object is solely to 
elicit truth, and to make more manifest, if possible, 
the perfect practicability of the very things that 
this writer has taken such serious exception to. 

It has been the misfortune of Christ to be first 
misinterpreted, and then to be misrepresented. 
To misinterpret Him has been a tricJc of His 
adversaries, and an error of His friends, such as 
the writer of "Ethics of Sentiment and of 
Science." The misinterpretation and conse- 
quent misrepresentation is the more remark- 
able, in this case, as they relate to a department 
of Christ's teachings that we have been accus- 
tomed to think was quite beyond criticism ; cer- 
tainly not capable of being misunderstood — the 
teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. Mr. F. 
has taken some of the most important, and, as 



CHEIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 77 

we have been wont to think, the most needful in 
practice, and has endeavored to show that they 
are nowise adapted to the good of society, in the 
reformation of its evils, bnt an attempt to avail 
ourselves of them in real life would prove disas- 
trous. 

We quote some of his statements. In speak- 
ing of the Sermon on the Mount, he says : " Its 
motto is, every one according to Ms needs ; as 
if need and meed always corresponded; as if 
want and worth were synonymous ; as if all who 
asked had a right to receive ; as if there were a 
panacea, even for all moral and spiritual ills ; as 
if the only people to be consulted in the great 
matter of kindness were those ^h.ofelt the needs, 
while those who supplied the needs were simply 
to practice the graces of generosity, forgetful- 
ness, denial of self, unsi^aring devotion to the 
work of philanthropy. We must declare our 
belief, that a faithful and close observance of the 
precepts announced in the Sermon on the Mount, 
would not ensure a condition of society which we 
modern people would care to call a heavenly 
kingdom. What would be the effect, for in- 
stance, of promiscuous alms-giving? Pauper- 
ism, of course, of desperate character, and on a 
boundless scale. AYliat would be the effect of 
indiscriminate lending of money to borrowers ? 
The demoralization of the borrowers, the im- 
poverishing of the lenders. AYhat would be the 
effect of passive non-resistance to wrong ? In 
most places, the triumph of the beast over the 



78 ECCE VERITAS. 

man. What would be the effect of snrrendering 
rights at the summons of the insolent and over- 
bearing ? The rapid decline of self-respect, the 
cessation of moral struggle, the abandonment of 
the hope of social progress. It is unnecessary to 
detail possibilities." 

This detail is, indeed, enough for illustration, 
and we might say, more than enough to show 
the bad ethics the writer is expounding, and 
which he would have us think are found in the 
Sermon on the Mount. He assumes that Jesus 
taught that "need and meed always corre- 
spond"; that " want and worth are synonymous "; 
that " all who ask have a right to receive "; that 
" the only people to be consulted in this great 
matter of kindness are those who feel the needs." 
He assumes that Christ taught "promiscuous 
alms-giving "; " passive non-resistance "; " indis- 
criminate lending of money"; "the surrendering 
of rights to the insolent and overbearing." 

Thus, having made Christ teach these things, 
he describes a frightful state of things that would 
result from " a faithful observance " of them ; a 
state of things which we " modern people would 
not care to call a lieamnly kingdom." He puts 
a low estimate, we think, on the ancients if he 
would have it implied that they would have 
thought any better of it. 

But Jesus erred, not only in His particular 
precepts, but equally so in His Golden Kule. 
The writer says : " Pardon me if I seem over- 
critical, even to the point of being captious, but 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 79 

even here I detect, and without difficulty, the 
same peculiarity I have been remarking on. 
The Golden E-ule may involve a principle, but it 
does not appeal to a principle. It says, ' do 
unto others as ye would that they should do to 
you.' The criterion then is a wish, a desire, a 
feeling, perhaps a transient mood, perhaps a 
whim. ' Whatsoever ye would. ' But we would, 
all of us, be pitied and petted, and loaded with 
costly gifts, for which we have nothing to pay. 
If poor, we would have men feed us ; if naked, 
we would have men clothe us ; if idle, we would 
have men support us ; if vicious, we would have 
men indulge us ; if worthless, and criminal, we 
would have men bear with us and pardon us. 
Must we then so deal with our fellows, bestowing 
promiscuous pity, flinging about an indiscrimi- 
nating bounty, deluging the worst of mankind 
with a gushing affection that gives them a sea to 
wallow in instead of a gutter ? This is what 
would come of taking men as they are. We 
must maintain the paupers, release the prisoners, 
and allow the wicked to go unpunished and un- 
redeemed." 

The reader, perhaps, may wonder what all this 
has to do witli the Golden Rule. But this, ac- 
cording to the writer, is its outcome. He says : 
" The Golden Rule has displayed no genius for 
managing ill-wishing men. It expresses a beauti- 
ful sentiment, but it lays down no regenerating 
law." 

Such, in this writer's view, are the Precepts 



80 ECCE VERITAS. 

and Golden Rule of Jesiis Christ ; and such 
would be their effect on society, could they and 
should they be put in practice. Is not the con- 
struction given to these teachings by Mr. F. 
a burlesque of the Sermon on the Mount ? If it 
is not, what a day's work was it that Christ per- 
formed on that memorable occasion ! He had 
better have been fishing on lake Gennesaret, even 
had He toiled all day, as Peter and his compan- 
ions did all night, " and caught nothing." 

This is a remarkable specimen of that misin- 
terpretation and consequent misrepresentation 
of which we spoke at the outset. We propose to 
make a serious attempt to show the false exposi- 
tion, and the consequent absurdity of the writer's 
conclusions. We broadly affirm that Christ 
never taught, either in terms, or by implication, 
or possible legitimate construction, any such 
ethics as are here ascribed to Him, either on the 
Mount, or by the seaside, or wayside, in the 
Temple, or Synagogue, or any other place. Had 
He taught any such code. He should have been 
taken care of by His friends, and so saved the 
tragedy of the crucifixion ! We, perhaps, should 
apologize for this serious attempt at refutation, 
so glaring is the false interpretation. But the 
writer's standing, as a teacher and author, and 
as a man of general culture, renders necessary 
what might, otherwise, be passed over as self- 
refuting. We do not see how precepts of sucli a 
practical tendency as that the writer gives them, 
can be called even " Ethics of Sentiment." They 



CHRISrS SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 81 

would hardly find decent respect in Utopia ; cer- 
tainly not among Essenes and Franciscan Monks 
who, the writer admits, did find some better 
meaning in them, and a way to practice it, with- 
out bringing to an end the little world they lived 
in, or even causing the "abandonment of the 
hope of social progress." 

We do not propose to follow the writer in all 
the detail of his criticism, but will take three of 
the specific precepts and the Golden Rule ; and 
as they are the principal ones on which he com- 
ments, if these are cleared of his reproach, and 
shown to be what Christ intended them to be, 
altogether good, wise, and of highly practical 
significance, the correction will answer for the 
whole ; which, in unity of design, aim at the 
same point, viz. : that " the precepts announced 
in the Sermon on the Mount, would not, by a 
close and faithful observance of them, ensure a 
condition of society which we modern people 
would care to call a heavenly kingdom." 

The three precepts to be considered are : " Give 
to him that asketh thee." " From him that would 
borrow of thee turn not thou away." '^I say 
unto you. That ye resist not evil ; but whosoever 
shall smite thee on one cheek, turn the other 
also." 

^^Give to Mm that asketh thee. " Now, although 
this precept is general and unqualified, no one has 
a right to assume that Christ renounced His com- 
mon sense in giving it, or that He should have 

known that men would renounce theirs in receiv- 
4* 



82 ECCE VERITAS. 

ing it, and so should liave guarded against the 
perversions of folly and fanaticism. In giving a 
general precept for alms-giving, Jesns had a right 
to snppose tliat men, generally, were neither void 
of sense nor discretion, and would not take Him 
to be void of those qualities. It was said, " never 
man spake ]ike this man," even His enemies being 
judges. It was His way, to seize principles and 
announce them ; to give comprehensive rules of 
life and duty ; address Himself to men's con- 
science, reason, and judgment, and leave them to 
make the application in accordance with those 
attributes and functions of the soul. Had He 
stopped to qualify, give the exceptions, and the 
"promsos for every varying condition of man and 
society. He must have devoted a lifetime to stat- 
utory codes, and thus have destroyed the peculiar 
power of His teaching. 

" What would be the effect of promiscuous 
alms-giving % " asks the author of " Ethics of 
Sentiment and of Science." But the precept 
does not say, give promiscuously to all, which 
would have been as easy, if Christ meant it. 
But He meant no such thing. Giving, on such a 
construction of the rule, would, of course, im- 
poverish the givers, for the demands would be so 
many, and so continuous, as to leave, at length, 
nothing for themselves. Neither Jesus nor His 
disciples felt the obligation to this extent, for 
they did contrive to retain enough for themselves 
to live, at least, in a rough sort of way, even 
where there were plenty of beggars whose wants, 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT, 83 

doubtless, remained unsupplied. ISTo man, in his 
senses, would deem the rule to mean more than — 
Give to every one that asketh, whom you know 
to be needy, or have good reason to believe to 
be ; and not needy from his own idleness or vag- 
abondism ; and then only according to your abil- 
ity, sharing with the sufferer, on the principle 
of " loving your neighbor as yourself " — a rule 
which the sentimental Teacher gave with the 
one before us. 

The precept, certainly, does not forbid society 
to diminish the paupers, to restrain the begging 
impostors from thronging the streets, and invad- 
ing our houses. If society did its duty there 
would be few but the real needy to ask the good 
man's alms. And Christ gave the precept to 
people who should, at least, know how to save 
society from " pauperism of a desperate charac- 
ter, and on a boundless scale." And He did not 
think it necessary to tell them not to play the 
fool with His teachings. Does He not elsewhere, 
in the interest of the poor, rebuke those who 
" lay heavy burdens upon men's shoulders," from 
which poverty so abundantly springs ? Does He 
not here urge with all the sanction of justice and 
love that glowed in His own soul, and was wont 
to leap, in tongues of fire, from His lips, the 
principle of a just and wise philanthropy which, 
if accepted and applied, would regulate the rela- 
tion of capital to labor, of work and wages, and 
thus end, at once, nine-tenths of all the poverty 
of the world ? And was He so devoid of consist- 



84 ECCE VERITAS. 

ency, so forgetful of Himself, and of what He 
liad said in tliis rebuke of oppression of the 
poor, as to have uttered a precept on the Mount 
to conflict, in its practical bearing, with this 
which He uttered in the Temple to the rich and 
powerful who had the poor in their grasp ? He 
was not the One so to stultify Himself, and so to 
make havoc with the moralities, the humanities, 
the benevolences, as to teach a loose sentimental 
method of alms-giving, that would produce, in 
its practice, " a desperate pauperism, and of 
boundless extent." Is not the code to be taken 
as a loTiole f — all the precepts together ? He 
says : " Grive not that which is holy to the dogs ; 
neither cast ye your pearls before swine." Here 
is a wise discrimination inculcated ; and it ap- 
plies as well to " holy" alms-givings as to other 
things. Say not, then, that He taught no dis- 
crimination. Again : While He tells us to be 
" as harmless as doves," He admonishes us, also, 
to be " as wise as serpents. ^^ Is it then in the 
department of our benevolence only that we are 
to allow ourselves to be imposed upon ? Jesus 
understood human nature, and knew how to treat 
it in all its aspects, and leaves us no excuse if we 
treat it unwisely. 

Is it not a rule of law to make the parts of a 
statute agree with the general scope and design ? 
In a law commanding every parent to send his 
children, between certain ages, to the Public 
School, would it be necessary to say — except the 
lunatic and idiot children ? 'No Legislature ^^ould 



CHBISrS SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 85 

think of making any sucTi proviso ; and for the 
reason that they legislated for parents who were 
not lunatics and idiots themselves. IS'o more 
was it necessary for Christ when He said — " Give 
to every one that asketh," to add, except those 
who have no rigM to aslc, and for the same rea- 
son, taking it for granted, that men had not lost 
their common sense. And it seems to ns to be 
trifling with the good sense of Jesus, and of the 
whole world, to say that by His precept He in- 
culcated 'Hndis criminate alms-giving." 

"From Mm tJiat would torrow of tliee^ turn 
not thou away. ''^ Blessed precept ! Not found 
elsewhere, we believe, in any code in the world. 
If it is, then God be thanked for that also. 
Blessed Christ ! must it be stricken from Thy 
teachings also, not only as a sentimentality, but 
as destructive of society if it could and should 
be set practically at work % It is a strong and 
broad precept for neighborly kindness, without 
a decent application of which, no neighborhood 
could live in harmony and work to a common 
end. The opposite one is — " Every man for him- 
self, and the Devil take the hindermost." It is a 
rule to deal out generously the use of what we 
have to spare to him who is in need, and begs 
our kindness ; whether it be our bread, our im- 
plement, or our money. But you are not to re- 
nounce your judgment, and lend indiscrimi- 
nately. If you know the man to be a thief and 
takes this method to get your goods into his 
possession ; or that he is ungrateful, improvi- 



86 ECCE VERITAS. 

dent, and destructive, and never returns what lie 
borrows ; or, if lie does return it, you know tliat 
lending only strengthens his indolence and thrif t- 
lessness, what man, out of a mad-house, would 
suppose that the precept required him to lend in 
view of such a state of facts ? But why did not 
Jesus say ; except to the thief, the improvident, 
the destructive, and he who makes no return of 
the thing borrowed ? Then the rule would have 
been worth something. As it is, "the lenders 
will become impoverished," if they attempt to 
live by it. He did not make the exceptions, for 
He did not suppose that men were without judg- 
ment or ordinary discretion, and might be swin- 
dled even with their eyes open. Jesus, in this 
same category, tells us to " Do good." Any ap- 
plication of the precept we are considering that 
would not ''do good^'' is excluded, by the all- 
comprehending duty of doing good and not evil. 
Here, again, we remark the precepts are to be 
taken together, that, when necessary, one may 
illustrate and explain the other. " Be ye wise 
as serpents," is a saying that involves something 
of that wisdom, that the writer under review, 
thinks so essential in benevolent works. Can it 
be that the Preacher of the Sermon on the Mount 
is the Author of this shrewd sa3dng % Yerily, 
and He meant that men should profit by it when 
they attempt to make a practical application of 
His instructions, even in alms-giving and in 
lending. 

The case is put stronger in Luke than here in 



CHBIST'S SEEMON ON THE MOUNT. 87 

Matthew. Luke has it — " Lend hoping for noth- 
ing again." In cases of absolute and worthy 
need, you are not to lend with a view to the 
return at all, but from spontaneous, generous, 
and unselfish sympathy and love, never thinking 
whether your goods or money may be returned 
or not ; even if you know the poor and worthy 
borrower may never be able to make return. If 
you are able, you are to lend as cheerfully as if 
you were sure the borrower would reimburse 
you, and "turn not away" because it is other- 
wise. And every soul who is in the fellowship 
of Christ's spirit gladly does so. Sucli know 
how to understand the precept, and obey it un- 
grudgingly. They have no disposition to cavil, 
but are ever trying how they may tenderly and 
wisely fulfill it. It is in such phases of char- 
acter, more than in any other, that men's religion 
is tested. " If ye lend them of whom ye hope to 
receive, what thank have ye ? for sinners also 
lend to sinners to receive as much again." Such 
is the broad, full, and unselfish love inculcated 
by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount. The 
precept is not a whit too comprehensive, even 
for "us modern people"; and were it univer- 
sally adopted and acted upon, it would go far 
towards introducing a state of society which 
might safely be " called a heavenly kingdom.." 

" I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; Ijut 
whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, 
turn to him the other alsoP Now we are not 
going to defend the kind of non-resistance which 



88 ECCE VERITAS. 

Mr. F. thinks lie finds in this precept ; for Christ 
never tanght it. He was too well acquainted 
with the Law of God's Government, and the 
Law of iN'ature, and the state and necessity oi 
mankind, to inculcate a doctrine at war with all 
these. Besides, He was too consistent with Him- 
self to contradict at one time what He said at 
another. The fair rule of criticism is, to give 
such a meaning to a man's particular words, as 
to harmonize them, if possible, with what we 
know his views are on the subject involved, 
especially with his action on that subject. Tak- 
ing this rule, let us turn to the 15th of Matthew, 
where we have a discussion between Christ and 
the Scribes and Pharisees in relation to tradi- 
tions. They said to Him : " Why do thy dis- 
ciples transgress the traditions of the Elders ^ " 
He replied: "Why do ye transgress the Com- 
mandments of God ? For God commanded, 
' Honor thy father and thy mother ; and he that 
curseth father or mother, let Mm die the deatJi.^ 
But ye say, ' Whosoever shall say to his father 
or mother, it is a gift by whatsoever thou might- 
est be profited by me, and honor not his father 
or mother, he shall be free.' Thus have ye made 
the Commandment of God of none effect by your 
tradition." The intent of this tradition is this : 
If a son gave a portion of his property to the 
Church, he might curse his father or mother, or 
both, either by word of mouth, or by the worse 
curse of leaving them to suffer in want, and the 
Elders set him free from the penalty of the Law. 



CHRIST'S SER3I0N ON THE MOUNT. 89 

It was, in fact, a "Sale of indulgences." The 
law is found in Exodus xxi. 17. We are not 
pleading the justice or propriety of the law, — 
although we can conceive of aggravated cases 
where, if ever the death penalty is right, might 
be so in such cases — but it is enough for our 
purpose, that Cheist sanctioned it. And if He 
approved of this, of course, He sanctioned the 
putting the murderer to death, as that was also 
required by the Mosaic Code. 

Here, then, we have resistance even unto death, 
and approved by Christ. But this, you say, 
was to be done by society through the Courts. 
Very well. But in order for the court to get 
possession of the criminal, he must first be 
arrested. This requires the resistance of the 
Sheriff, and, if necessary, of the whole posse 
comitatus. So if the precept forbids individual 
resistance, it must, also, the resistance of the 
government ; for the government cannot act 
without the people — it must come to the indi- 
vidual at last. And if the felons are many, a 
proportionate number of the people must resist 
them when they refuse to surrender, as they 
would in all cases, if no force was to be used. If 
many hundred thousands are the felons, as w^as 
the case in our late Rebellion, then the whole 
loyal people must arm against the rebels, if the 
criminals are to be subdued, and the government 
sustained. So you cannot separate between the 
individual and government in the application of 
Christ's precept. But we have seen that He 



90 ECCE VERITAS. 

•sanctions goyernmental resistance ; and as that 
involves personal individnal resistance, even nnto 
killing the criminals, He could not have meant 
to prohibit all personal use of force against onr 
assailants. The non-resistance which the writer 
of "Ethics of Sentiment and of Science" en- 
deavors to foist on Christ's precept, we see must 
sweep government of the right of force as well 
as the private individual. Indeed the writer 
assumes this to be the fact, for he gives, to illus- 
trate the inconsistency of Christians in uphold- 
ing a government by force, the case of a minister 
of the Gospel, who "pronounced a eulogy on a 
sword," in our late war, and says, "he did it 
without even an apology to his Master." And 
farther on, he says : " the war was justified by 
no lessons of Matthew or Luke." 

Thus he holds, plainly, that the precept covers 
both private and governmental resistance. And 
so it does, as we have seen, if it inculcates the 
non-resistance of any in Ms sense of the precept. 
But as it does not, we must seek some other 
meaning to it. The uprightness, and clear vision 
of Jesus, would keep Him from any inconsist- 
•ency or confusion of thought, and, consequently, 
there must be an interpretation that vdll har- 
monize with both governmental and private re- 
sistance in a just and vital case. Let us see. 

Christ's words are — "Ye have heard that it 
hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth 
for a tooth ; But I say unto you, that ye resist 
not evil." JSTow what is there of strict self-defen- 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 91 

sive resistance in " an eye for an eye, and a tooth. 
for a tooth " ? for He gives this to illustrate the 
Tcind of resistance that He forbids. If a man is 
about to strike you with his fist or a bludgeon, 
and, in self-defence, you seize him and prevent 
the blow, that is not an eye for an eye, nor a 
tooth for a tooth, for you have lost neither. The 
eye or tooth must be first taken from you before 
you can take your enemy's in return. But when 
you gouge the eye, or knock out the tooth, of 
your enemy, because he has destroyed one of 
those members of yours, it is not self-defence, 
but simply 'brutal revenge. This is the first and 
principal thing that Christ forbids — retaliation 
for injuries already received; which is equally 
forbidden by the law of humanity and good 
breeding. 

To illustrate Himself still farther He says: 
" Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, 
turn to Mm the other also." You are not to 
strike back, even if he smite both, cheeks. This 
is a case again where the blow has already been 
received, and to return it would be another case 
of retaliation, and so is forbidden. 

Then He takes up a somewhat different class 
of acts, in which, we are not to resist. " H a man 
shall sue thee at the law, and take away thy 
coat, let him have thy cloak also." You are not 
to take it back by force, for that would be a 
breach, of the peace ; and there would be no use 
in resorting to the law, for that we see, in the 
case supposed, is in the interest of the aggressor ; 



92 ECCE VERITAS. 

for he gets the coat by the law, and better yield 
the cloak also, than resort to violence or futile 
litigation. Again, He says: "Whosoever shall 
compel yoLi to go with him a mile, go with him 
twain" — that is, rather than use violent resist- 
ance, where worse consequences might follow. 
For peace's sake go with him two miles, if that 
be necessary. 

. Thus we see that all the cases that Christ gives 
in illustration of His doctrine of non-resistance 
of evil, relate to retaliation and those minor 
matters of injury or invasion of rights, where 
common sense, itself, tells us we had better bear 
the wrong than to fight. ISTow if Jesus meant to 
forbid resistance of every kind and degree, even 
where the lives of ourselves, or our families, or 
the life of society, were involved, why did He 
mention only those trifling wrongs, the most of 
which would be done before resistance would be 
of any avail ? Why did He not give, at least, 
one vital case that would cover the whole ground ? 
Why not say — if the assassin attack you or your 
families, or both, let him have his way ; die like 
lambs, resist not? Because He had no such 
thought in His mind. He never thought of 
propagating such a doctrine. Private or per- 
sonal revenge, or fighting to resist trifiing wrongs 
His precept forbids; but manly self-defence of 
essential rights, both of person and society — 
never. 

But more. Christ did not only not teach this 
doctrine of non-resistance that Mr. F. insists 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 93 

upon, but personally and practically, — wMch 
may^ astonish, some — acted, Himself, on the prin- 
ciple of resistance in vital emergency. On tlie 
night before His crucifixion, when He knew a 
conspiracy was going on to take His life, just be- 
fore He went out with the disciples to the Garden 
where He was to be assailed by armed men, He 
said : " He that hath no sword, let him sell his 
garment and buy one.^^ And His disciples said : 
" Lord, here are two swords "/ He replied : ^' it 
is enough.^'' They went out, and soon the Mob 
rushed upon them. They drew their swords, 
and Peter having one of them, aimed, what he 
meant for a deadly blow, and cut off the ear of 
the High Priest's servant. But before they com- 
menced the defence, they said : " Lord, shall we 
smite with the sword ?" He certainly did not say, 
no, nor could consistently, having Himself sanc- 
tioned and provided for their being in their 
hands. The probability is, that in answer to 
their inquiry, He said, yes, as they began im- 
mediately to use the weapons. If He was silent, 
and made no reply, they took it for His consent. 
Here then was resistance by Christ, Himself, 
through His adherents. But when He saw the 
conflict was unequal and useless on their part. 
He said : " Suffer ye thus far "/ thus giving a 
plain justification of what they had so far done. 
They had, at least, asserted the right of self -de- 
fence ; and Jesus by His approval confirmed the 
right. That He also added : " Put up thy sword 
into its place ; for they that take the sword shall 



94 ECCE VERITAS. 

perish by the sword," He only states a fact of the 
fortunes of war, viz. : that there will be slaughter 
on both sides ; and as, in this case, their side was 
so much the weaker, prudence dictated a sur- 
render. 

This view is confirmed by the fact that the 
swords were already in their possession at the 
Supper of the Passover. Why had they the 
swords among them at all, if they were never to 
use them? And, especially, if the Master had 
before, in His notable Sermon, forbidden all resist- 
ance ? The truth is, the region round about Je- 
rasalem was infested with robbers. Jesus and 
His disciples were constantly traversing this 
region, and were thus exposed to robbery and 
murder ; and they carried their swords to defend 
themselves and their Master against the violence 
to which they were exposed. 

Christ did not come to fight His way to a 
throne. " My kingdom is not of this world ; if 
My kingdom were of this world, then would my 
servants jight^^ are His words to Pilate. Then 
there is nothing wrong, in itself., in fighting. 
But the cause must be just, and the necessity 
clear. So the minister who pronounced the 
" eulogy on the sword " to be used against the 
war of the Eebellion, had no occasion to " ask an 
apology of his Master," as Mr. F. thinks he 
should, unless the Rebellion was right, and the 
sword was to be wielded in the wrong. 

So, from what Christ said respecting the death 
penalty under the Law, to which we have refer- 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 95 

red ; from tlie cases with which He illustrated 
His precept ; from His own practice of carrying 
swords in His company, and sanctioning their 
use in the Garden on the occasion of His arrest, 
it amounts to a demonstration that Christ never 
taught the modern doctrine of non-resistance, 
which Mr. F. endeavors to hold Him responsible 
for. The doctrine He did teach, in.the foregoing 
precepts, is beautiful and heavenly ; not imprac- 
ticable, but highly essential to be acted upon, un- 
less we mean to turn every neighborhood into a 
fighting ring, and inaugurate a state of things 
worse than Southern Society in the days of Slav- 
ery, when the dirk, the pistol, and the rifle were 
the emblems of the social status, and lex talionis 
the paramount authority. And the practical ob- 
servance of the other precepts, above considered, 
is equally essential unless we mean to adopt the 
motto — " Every man for liimself^^ and leave the 
poor and needy outside the pale of humanity, to 
struggle, to suffer, and to die, with none to pity 
or to help. But this will not be. The power of 
Christ's love is too great, His spirit too widely 
diffused to allow of such an Ishmaelitish state of 
society. Though the power of selfishness is 
great, and human hearts but slightly moved by 
the enthusiasm of the Humanity of Jesus, yet, as 
we said farther back, it shall grow in volume and 
extent, until Society and the Christian Brother- 
hood shall be identical, where "none shall call 
what they have their own," but " shall bear one 
another's burdens, and so fulfill the Law of 



96 ECCE VERITAS. 

Christ" — the Law of victorious Love. Let us 
now take up 

The GoLDEivr Rule. " All things whatsoever 
ye would that men should do to you^ do ye even 
so to themP 

The writer of "Ethics of Sentiment and of 
Science," as before quoted, says : " The Golden 
Rule may involve a principle, but it does not ajp- 
peal to one. It says, 'Do unto others as ye 
would that they should do to you.' The crite- 
rion, then, is a wish, a desire, a feeling ; perhaps 
a transient mood, perhaps a whim. ' Whatsoever 
ye would.^ But we would, all of us, be pitied, 
petted, and loaded with costly gifts, for which 
we have nothing to pay. If poor, we would have 
men feed us ; if naked, we would have men 
clothe us ; if idle, we would have men support 
us ; if vicious, we would have men indulge us ; 
if worthless and criminal, we would have men 
bear with us and pardon us. Must we, then, so 
deal with our fellows, bestowing promiscuous 
pity, flinging about an indiscriminating bounty, 
deluging the worst of mankind with a gushing 
affection that gives them a sea to wallow in in- 
stead of a gutter ? This is what would come of 
taking men as they are. We must maintain the 
paupers, release the prisoners, and allow the 
wicked to go unpunished and unredeemed. The 
Golden Rule has displayed no genius for manag- 
ing ill-wishing men. It expresses a beautiful 
sentiment, but lays down no regenerating law. " 

Thus it is seen, the writer deems the Golden 



CHRIST'S SER3I0N ON THE MOUNT. 97 

Rule, like the precepts, on lending, giving, and 
non-resisting of evil, in practice, of baleful 
tendency. Of course, if those precepts are base 
metal, this Rule is not likely to be very Golden. 
But we have seen the metal they are made of, 
and this will be found to be sufficiently Golden 
to stand the "trial of fire." The Golden Rule 
looked sublime to us, as its spirit glowed in the 
soul and its words fell calmly from the lips of 
John Brown in that Virginia Court-room, where 
he freely offered up his blood for the redemp- 
tion of the slave, as we thought, and especially as 
he thought, in obedience to this same Golden 
Rule. When he urged it upon the slaveholders, 
who had gathered there to take his life, and as- 
serted it as the highest law in justification of his 
attempt to liberate the slaves, and his resistance 
unto death at the Arsenal, when they came with 
armed bands to capture him, had those same 
slaveholders but known the cunning interpreta- 
tion put upon that Rule, by the writer under 
consideration, how they might have turned it 
against the Liberator, and pleaded it both in 
justification of their slaveholding and the hang- 
ing of Brown for interfering with it. They 
" would " be slaveholders ; it was their " wis7i " 
to be let alone ; they had a " whim " for hanging 
those who interfered with their institution ; and 
the author of this new interpretation of the Rule 
says, its " appeal is to a desire, a wish, perhaps a 
whim." 
But there was too much conscience, self-con- 
5 



98 ECCE VERITAS. 

viction of wrong and common sense, even in a 
Conrt of " ill-wishing " Virginia slaveholders, to 
allow them to attempt such a feat, even had they 
known the interpretation according to " Ethics 
of Sentiment and of Science." They were awed 
by the majesty of God's own Law, and of God's 
own voice, as the bleeding old Prophet and 
Martyr ponred into their ears and souls the 
" Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto 
you, do ye even the same unto them." They 
would that men should not make tJiem slaves, 
nor hang them for an act of humanity in at- 
tempting to free such ; and what they would that 
men should not do to tTiem, they should not do 
to others. This they knew, and this was the 
thunder of God in their souls, which prevented 
them from the attempt to turn the Golden Rule 
into an engine of inhumanity, and the very elixir 
of life into the poison of death. 

The writer of this new view of the Golden 
E,ule seems to have fallen into two preliminary 
errors with respect to the Rule, which have had 
much to do, doubtless, with leading him into his 
fanciful interpretation. He seems to suppose 
that because the Rule has no expressed negative 
form, it has only a positive one. It says, " What- 
soever ye would^'' but does not say, " Whatso- 
ever ye would not that men should do unto you, 
do ye not that unto them"; so his "wishes," 
"desires," and "whims," are all of what men 
would have done to them, or for them. But the 
positive., by all the laws of language, in such a 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 99 

case, implies the negative. The Rule was given 
for just and benevolent ends. But if it was 
given to accomplish a perfect good, which even 
Mr. F. will not deny, — however much mistaken 
he may think Christ to have been as to its prac- 
tical working — its negative side is as clear and 
authoritative as itspositive. It could not be ex- 
pressed both ways in the same words, and the 
positive form is the obvious way in which to put 
it ; and yet it is just as obvious that it means, 
" Whatsoever ye would noth.2iYe men do to you, 
do not to them," as " Whatsoever ye loould that 
they should do to you, do the same to them." 
JSTow, even men's wishes and whims would be 
that others should not do them wrong. So the 
Eule would be Golden to the extent, at least, of 
preventing all wrongs^ if closely followed ; and 
even the " Ethics of Science " could not do better 
than that, for the removal of mutually inflicted 
evils. 

But a second, and greater error of the writer 
is, that he has misapprehended the nature of the 
E-ule. He seems to think it a Rule for general 
benevolence. " Do good " is absolutely general, 
covering every kind and possibility of well-doing. 
"Love thy neighbor as thyself," is all-compre- 
hensive. But the Grolden Rule is more specific. 
Its design is to meet emergencies. Like " Love 
thy neighbor as thyself," it is self-applicatory ; 
but while that is for general, this is for specific 
purposes. The Golden Rule meets, as it was de- 
signed to meet, those cases where, in our rela- 



100 ECCE VERITAS. 

tions to each other, we are confronted with some 
special juncture that calls upon us to do some 
good act to our neighbor, or to abstain from some 
wrong that we purpose against him. A traveller 
calls at your door, weary, faint, and hungry ; or 
sick and unable to go farther. He needs rest and 
refreshment, and, perhaps, medical assistance. 
He must have the necessary aid or suffer, perhaps 
perish. Now comes the Golden Rule — " What- 
soever ye would that men should do to you, 
do ye even the same to them." Putting yourself 
in this traveller's case, how does the Rule require 
you to treat him ? You know well enough. In 
the light of this law not a human soul can fail to 
know, for its appeal is to what you would have 
done to yourself, if you were in the suffering 
man's case. You know you are bound to wel- 
come him to your house and board, to your sym- 
pathy and assistance, and render the deed of 
mercy gladly, according to your ability ; and if, 
instead, you turn him from your door unpitied, 
you " shall receive judgment without mercy," in 
that hour of your need, when this same Jesus 
shall say, " Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of 
these. My brethren, ye did it not to Me." 

Kow, take a case to illustrate the negative 
application of the Rule. You hold a mortgage 
on a poor widow's lot. It is overdue, and she 
cannot pay it. She begs you to give her ad- 
ditional time. By pressing immediate payment 
you can, not only get the amount due, but, by 
managing the case shrewdly, you can get the 



CHBISrS SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 101 

whole property for the mortgage and costs. 
You are avaricious, and, thongh with some com- 
punction, are disposed to press the claim, not for 
your own necessity, but for your own gain. JN'ow 
the Eule confronts you — ^' Whatsoever ye would 
not that men should do to you, do thou not to 
them.^^ If you were in the poor widow's place, 
you would not like to be pushed to the wall, and 
lose your property. Then do not do the damn- 
ing deed yourself. Your duty is to be patient, 
forbearing, and, instead of taking the property, 
assist your debtor with your advice, and superior 
business judgment and influence, and if obliged 
to foreclose at last, save all you can for Tier. 
This is what the Golden Rule requires ; and if 
you violate it and rob the woman, no one knows 
better than yourself that, though you had a 
" wish," or " desire," to get the property, the very 
wish or desire was wrong, and no " criterion " of 
action or ground of justification of your inhuman 
deed. 

Take another strong case. Here is a liquor 
dealer. He " ?^o?^Z(^ " sell liquor, he ^' desires ^^ 
to get rich. Bl oated wretches press to his counter 
for drink. Their families are famishing and 
shivering in the winter cold, while the money of 
the husbands and fathers goes into the rum- 
seller's till. Christ stands among the wretched 
inebriates — for He was wont to mix with un- 
fortunate sinners — and, looking with His stern 
eyes into the eyes of the Captain of Ruin, says 
to liim, " Whatsoever you would not that men 



102 ECCE VERITAS. 

should do to yon, in sucli a case as this, do not 
yon to these, putting yourself in tlieir place ; 
not with their ' desire ' for strong drink, but 
with your self-possession, your family, and com- 
fortable home. Would you have men sell you 
the destroying drink? pauperize your family? 
turn your wife and cliildren beggars into the 
street ? You say no. Then do not the dreadful 
crime to these. Shut up your shop, and abandon 
the damning trade." This is the Golden Rule 
in its negative application. The Rule is a two- 
edged sword, with its do and do not^ cutting both 
right and left through the injustice and selfish- 
ness of men. 

These instances illustrate well-nigh all, if not 
all, the classes of cases that would come under 
the Golden Rule ; and yet the author of " Ethics 
of Sentiment and of Science " says, " it has dis- 
played no genius for reforming ill- wishing men." 
To talk of Society being destroyed by " a close 
and faithful observance of the precepts of the 
Sermon on the Mount," including the Golden 
Rule, is to assail the very Citadel of Humanity 
and the Throne of the Heavenly Father, who 
stands for the defence of the poor and the led- 
astray, and has furnished in the teachings of His 
Son, the purest, the strongest, the wisest forms 
of truth that could possibly be employed for the 
reformation of man and of Human Society. 
Divine Love could do no more, nor no better, 
and is quite safe from such criticism as " Ethics 
of Sentiment and of Science," which, whether in- 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 103 

tended as a disparagement of Christ or not, it 
fails to injure either Him or His precepts, by the 
very absurdity of the interpretation, and the 
weakness of the arguments and illustrations. 

With a few remarks on the principle of the 
Golden Eule, we shall dismiss the subject. The 
writer whom we are reviewing, says, "The 
Golden Rule may involve a principle, but it 
does not appeal to one. The criterion is a wish, 
a desire, a feeling, perhaps a transient mood, 
perhaps a whim." He is in doubt whether it 
even involves a principle, but is sure it does not 
appeal to one. Let us examine this a little. A 
rule that did not involve a principle, unless it 
were wholly arbitrary , would be an anomaly in- 
deed. The most common and secular rule that 
has any reason for its existence, must involve 
some kind of principle. That which constitutes 
the reason for its existence is its principle. A 
rule of Congress that its members, in speaking, 
should adopt Walker's mode of pronunciation, 
would involve no principle, because there would 
be no reason for it, — it would be entirely arbi- 
trary. But a rule of the House limiting the 
time of each speaker, would involve two prin- 
ciples, arising from the reasons for it, viz., 
economy of time, and equality of its distribu- 
tion among the members. Now, unless the 
Golden Rule is entirely arbitrary it must involve 
a principle. No one, not our author, even, will 
pretend that it is arbitrary. Even an " Ethic of 
Sentiment " could claim a reason for itself. But 



104 ECCE VERITAS. 

as we liave shown the Golden Rule to be highly 
practical, it must have a principle. What are 
the reasons for the Rule ? Manifestly, riglit and 
denevolence between man and man. These, then, 
are its principles. Or, comprehensively. Love is 
the basis and soul of the law, and is therefore its 
Principle. Reciprocal Love is the soul of the 
Golden Rule. This will assure all the good we 
owe to our fellows, and prevent all the evil that 
we might inflict upon them. 

But Mr. F. says, though the " Rule may in- 
volve a principle, it does not appeal to one." It 
cannot help but to appeal to its own principle — 
to its own reason for existence, without so chang- 
ing the terms of the appeal as to destroy its char- 
acter, when it would not be the Rule at all, but 
quite another. Suppose it said, " Do unto others 
as you please. "^^ It would not be very Golden, 
surely, nor any rule but the cut-throat one of an 
outlaw that might see fit to adopt it ; and the 
writer, whose interpretation makes the genuine 
Rule appeal to the " wisli^'' " desire^^ or " wliim " 
of the mcious, makes it equivalent to doing as 
you please. None but the vicious could desire 
to be ''petted,''^ " loaded with costly gifts^'' to be 
" indulged in idleness^'' and " wish for an indis- 
criminating bestowal of bounty that would give 
them a sea to wallow in instead of a gutter ^^^ as 
Mr. F. says they would ; and even tJiey would 
never think the Golden Rule made provision for 
their wishes to be gratified, and much less would 
they think of doing these things to others, if 



CHBIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 105 

they should be so mad as to desire and expect 
them for themselves. Even their common sense 
would teach them a better understanding of 
Christ's Rule than that ; and the virtuous could 
never have any such desires. So long as the 
Rule retains its own proper character, we repeat, 
it must appeal to its principle — to " Love, which 
worketh no ill to one's neighbor." Suppose it 
appealed to any man's "wish," " desire," " whim," 
what should we say of the wisdom of Jesus ? Is 
such His Golden Rule ? — ^the outcome of His 
Sermon on the Mount ? The writer of this view 
says : " It expresses a beautiful sentiment, but 
lays down no regenerating law," and then adds, 
" is this audacious ? Then is the author of Ecce 
Homo audacious." Two audacities will not help 
the matter. But we fail to find any such senti- 
ment in "Ecce Homo." He simply thinks the 
methods of modern society seek the prevention 
of evil, and Christ's only its cure — a very differ- 
ent thing from this of Mr. Frothingham's total 
perversion of Christ's precept. But we are bold 
to say, that even Ecce Homo has misapprehended 
Christ on that point, as we have had occasion to 
show elsewhere. It is one of the defects of his 
I)ook. Christ's principles and specific teaching, 
both, strike at the causes of evil and their re- 
moval, as well as its present relief. But " Ecce 
Homo " nowhere hints, even, that " a faithful and 
close observance of the precepts announced in 
the Sermon on the Mount, would not insure a 
condition of societ which we modern people 
5* 



106 ECCE VERITAS. 

would care to call a Heavenly kingdom." In- 
deed, "Ecce Homo" is entlinsiastic for Christ. 
If lie were not so, lie had better not have written 
his book. But our author says, "the Golden 
Rule expresses a beautiful sentiment." We do 
not see how it can express " a beautiful senti- 
ment," if it appeals to unbridled " wisli^'' " de- 
sire^'' or '^wliimy It must express itself in its 
appeal, if anything. Consult your " wliim " does 
not express a very " beautiful sentimentP We 
should say, a very ugly, a very vicious one. The 
fact is, the writer, having left the sphere of prin- 
ciple and reason for that of speculation and 
fancy, in search of " Ethics of Sentiment, ^^ makes 
a poor show in dialectics. 

As we have seen that the object of the Golden 
Rule is to meet emergent junctures, when we, 
in our relations, are confronted with occasions 
where our action or non-action must bless or in- 
jure our fellow-man, there is, and must be, in 
every such case, an irresistible appeal^ of neces- 
sity, to the right and duty involved. Being a 
self-applicatory Rule, we must, whether we will 
or not, (for the conscience asserts its authority 
in such juncture,) see the situation of our brother, 
and how he is to be affected ; and feel the obli- 
gation of right action, by being forced, in mind, 
to take Ms place, and so receive on our own souls 
the whole weight of his case. We cannot go 
wrong, therefore, but by violating the clearest 
light, revealed in our heart of hearts. A wish to 
do wrong, a desire to 'gratify selfishness, a whim 



CHRIST'S SERMON -ON THE MOUNT, 107 

for villainy, cannot silence the voice of God within 
the soul, brought home with the " Whatsoever 
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even 
the same to them." Evil wishes, vicious desires, 
whims for self-indulgence, every man knows to 
be wrong, and no man, we think, would dare to 
appeal to them as an authoritative " criterion " 
of his action. The interpretation of " Ethics of 
Sentiment and of Science," as we have said, turns 
the Y%Y J Elixir of life into a decoction of deadly 
poison. Yet Mr. F. says the Rule " expresses a 
beautiful sentiment " ! Was there ever such a 
confounding of ideas ? Love is the Pri]N'ciple 
of the GoLDEis" Rule ; and the Appeal is^ and 
ever must he, of necessity, to its Prii^ciple. 

Christ has also been criticised in another di- 
rection, and by another public man, of which it 
seems proper to take a passing notice, before we 
dismiss our remarks on the Sermon on the Mount. 

Professor Felix Adler, the leader of the Society 
for Ethical Culture, in a late lecture before the 
Society, is reported to have said : " That He " 
(Christ) " deprecates the intellectual virtues, that 
He blesses poverty of spirit, when we are learn- 
ing more and more to see how unblessed poverty 
of spirit is, seems to make it impossible for the 
modern mind to accept Him as the complete 
prototype." Jesus says, in His Sermon on the 
Mount — " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for 
theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Did Christ 
mistake a spurious for a genuine quality of hu- 
manity in this utterance ? Far from it. He was 



108 ECCE VERITAS. 

too wise, too penetrating, too intent on elevating 
the human soul, to fall into any such error of 
loose and fanatical thinkers. Mr. Adler seems 
to think that " poor in spirit," in Christ's sense 
of the words, is tantamount to meanness, unman- 
liness. He is mde of the real spirit of Christ's 
teaching in His inculcation here. With Him, 
" poor in spirit " stands in opposition to pride, 
arrogance, and self-sufficiency ; and who will say 
that these qualities enter into true manliness, or 
that they are worthy of our culture 1 The " poor 
in spirit " are above the pride of wealth, or of in- 
tellect ; are " meek and lowly of heart," like the 
Master, but are not unconscious of their man- 
hood and the rights of human nature. If rich, 
the "poor in spirit" hold themselves on the 
same level and in the same spirit of their indi- 
gent brethren. They arrogate nothing to them- 
selves on account of their possessions, but " con- 
descend to men of low estate." If of superior 
intellect and culture, they do not parade their 
superiority, but receive their humbler brethren 
as their equals. This it is to be ^'poor in spirits 
And is it not sublime ? Is this mean, or craven, 
or unmanly ? What mist has befogged the intel- 
lect of the Teacher of Ethical Culture ? Christ's 
spirit inconsistent with manliness ! 

Notwithstanding their poverty of spirit, when 
did Christ, or the Apostles, or the primitive dis- 
ciples show any want of manliness? Was it 
when Jesus confronted the rich and the power- 
ful, charging them with " devouring widows' 



CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 109 

houses," and "laying burdens on men's shoul- 
ders, while they touched them not with one of 
their fingers " 1 Was it when He was told that 
Herod would kill Him, and He said, "Go tell 
that Fox I do my work to-day, and to-morrow, 
and the third day " — I continue my work despite 
of him ? Was it when He faced the buffetings of 
the crowd, and the tortures of the Cross, with 
the majesty of meekness, and the calm triumph 
of patient endurance, and "opened not His 
mouth " ? Did not Stephen, in the very jaws 
of death, denounce his murderers with — " Ye 
stiS-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, 
ye do always resist the Holy Ghost ; ye betray- 
ers and murderers of the Just One " ? Was Paul 
without manliness, when he said to the High 
Priest, who had commanded him to be smitten — 
" God shall smite thee, thou wMted wall ; for sit- 
test thou to judge me after the law, and com- 
mandest me to be smitten contrary to the law " ? 
Was there any lack of manliness in the whole 
body of the faithful, who "took joyfully the 
spoiling of their goods," many of whom went to 
the cross or the headsman's block, heroically ex- 
claiming, as did Paul — " I am ready to be of- 
fered"? 

There is nothing mean, cowardly, or craven in 
the spirit of Christ or His followers ; but sublime 
faith, heroic courage, and all the magnanimity 
of self-sacrifice. Mr. Adler says : " From our 
point of view, we cannot accept Jesus as Master." 
More's the pity ; for moulding his character to 



110 ECCE VERITAS. 

tlie Model of Jesus, lie wonld reacli to the stature 
of a Perfect Man. Here is what Mr. Renan says 
on this subject, in his book entitled " The Apos- 
tles": "It was only in appearance, and accord- 
ing to worldly prejudices, that the disciples of 
Jesus were of an insignificant class. The world- 
ling admires pride and strength, and wastes no 
affability on inferiors. Honor in his view con- 
sists in repelling insult. He despises the spirit 
which is meek, long-suffering, humble, which 
yields its cloak also, and turns its cheek to the 
smiter. He is wrong ; the meekness which he 
disdains, is the mark of a loftier soul than Ms 
own; and the highest virtues dwell more con- 
tentedly with those who obey and serve than 
with those who command and enjoy." He adds : 
" Jesus knew well that the heart of the common 
people was the great reservoir of the self-devo- 
tion and resignation by w^hich alone the world 
could be saved. Hence He called 'i^iepoor in 
spirit blessed,^ deeming it easier for them to be 
good than for others. The primitive Christians 
were essentially 'poor'; it was their rightful 
title. Even if a QYni^iidji possessed riches^ in the 
second and third centuries, he was 'poor in 
spirit^ and classed himself among the poor. "^^ 
This it is to be "poor in spirit": and this is 
manly. 

Mr. Adler may refuse to accept Jesus as Mas • 
ter ; but He is, and forever shall remain his 
Master, whether he will or no ; and neither he 
nor any of us will ever attain to the true Stature 



CHEIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. HI 

of Humanity without submitting to the power of 
His Example, as the true and veritable IDEAL 
MAN. 

The Teachings of the Sermon on the Mount 
are the sublimest because the simplest and the 
truest utterances that ever fell on human ears. 
They are in whole and in every particular with- 
out flaw, without stint, without excess, without 
error ; and so are absolutely perfect ; and reveal 
their Origin to be the SOUL of Infinite Wisdom 
and Love. 



CHAPTEE YI. 

THE MIEACLES OF CHEIST 

That Cheist did "many wonderful works" 
of a supernatural character is affirmed by the 
Writers of the Gospels. It is said that He healed 
the sick, restored the lame, gave hearing to the 
deaf, speech to the dumb, sight to the blind, and 
life to the dead. He is said to have restored 
lunatics and maniacs to soundness of mind, 
turned water into wine, and fed thousands at a 
time with food that was hardly sufficient for a 
single family. These things are earnestly and 
honestly asserted of Him by all the four Evan- 
gelists. 

Now, it can hardly be supposed that these 
Writers could be mistaken as to the fact that ex- 
traordinary healings, and other, apparently, su- 
pernatural things had been done by Jesus. There 
were numerous witnesses of these things, what- 
ever they were, large numbers of whom were 
either indifferent to His cause or open enemies, 
and therefore, not likely to admit an unwarranta- 
ble claim. The Writers, themselves, witnessed 
the most of these acts, and record them from per- 
sonal knowledge. Their honesty is not to be im- 
peached, and cannot be considered doubtful. 

(112) 



THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST. 113 

The only qnestion is, were they mistaken as to 
tlie nature of the facts ? Did they take appear- 
ances for realities 1 ordinary, or even extraordi- 
nary cnres, for miraculous ? recovery from sus- 
pended animation, for resurrection from the 
dead ? The case of the daughter of Jairus might 
have been of this latter character. Her friends 
presumed her dead. Jesus said, " She is not 
dead, but sleepeth." But a word of His brought 
her back to consciousness, and she at once arose, 
and Jesus directed them to give her something 
to eat. So, whether dead or not, the restoration 
was wonderful and unaccountable, as none of the 
methods in such cases were employed. 

But the instances are too numerous, the facts 
asserted too manifestly beyond the reach of 
natural means to be disposed of on the assump- 
tion of mistaking extraordinary natural results 
for supernatural effects. Mr. Renan says, sub- 
stantially, that Jesus, knowing the people were 
given to a belief in the marvelous and super- 
natural, simply took advantage of this proclivity 
and allowed them to take His wonderful acts for 
miracles, though He did not put them forth as 
such ; thus, as we should say, using a little pious 
fraud that could do no harm, and might do con- 
siderable good — an explanation of the matter 
that would, if sound, injure the character of 
Christ beyond recovery; and yet it does not 
abate one jot of his love and zeal for Jesus, as 
though such an act were entirely consistent with 
sincerity and truth. It were better to say, either 



114 ECCE VERITAS. 

that Christ did not do, or pretend to do these 
things, and that they sprung np in after years 
from tradition, and found their way into the 
Eecords under a mistaken belief in their reality, 
or that they were genuine miracles. 

The supposition, however, that Christ pre- 
tended to do what He did not do, or that the 
works were the product of the error of tradition, 
is not to be admitted for a moment. The Nar- 
rators were too intelligent and too honest to be 
deceived or to deceive others. And Christ was 
too wise and too sincere and good to allow any 
illusion of the people that was in His power to 
prevent, and, absolutely. He could not contribute 
to any. 

But why not admit the miracles '^ Because, 
say you, a miracle is impossible ; it is contrary 
to the laws of nature, and the laws of nature 
cannot be suspended or violated. Mr. Hume is 
the champion of this axiom, which has been 
made to do service in the skeptical ranks for the 
last hundred years. Mr. Hume lays it down, as 
incontrovertible, that a firm and unalterable 
experience lias estdblisJied tliose laws of nature, 
wTiich it is the very essence of miracle to molate; 
and the laws of nature cannot he molated, as all 
experience shows. Therefore, it will always be 
more probable, that the testimony in favor of a 
miracle should he false, than that unalterable 
experience should he molated. But what does 
Mr. Hume know of the experience of all "people 
of all ages f With those who believe in miracles 



THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST. 115 

tliat is tlie very question in dispute ; and to 
affirm that all experience is against the miracle 
is to heg the question^ as logicians say. Those 
who affirm that they saw the miracles, their ex- 
perience is to the contrary of that of Mr. Hume 
and those who hold with him. Mr. Hume could 
only speak for himself and the comparatively 
few persons with whom he had conversed ; which 
would be a meagre show for the experience of all 
people of all ages. He and his personal ac- 
quaintances never in all their experience saw a 
miracle ; therefore, no one else ever did, either in 
this or any other age. This will hardly do as a 
matter of logic — it is a glaring non sequitur. 
The premises are too narrow for the conclusion. 
Mr. Hume's axiom is no axiom — it is 2i fallacy. 
This question is one of historical testimony, 
and it is idle to talk about the experience of all 
ages being against the miracle, when such uni- 
versal experience is denied by believers. The 
testimony of the Evangelists and large numbers 
of honest and intelligent people in Christ's com- 
pany, is to the fact of the miracles ; while none 
of His enemies deny them, and some confess 
them — even a whole Council of Priests and 
Pharisees, saying — " This man doeth many mir- 
acles." So, clearly, it is more difficult to doubt 
the testimony than to admit the miracles, if it is 
to be looked at as a question of naked evidence, 
which is the only way it can be disposed of. 
The Hume theory breaks up the Court, turns the 
witnesses out of the Box, and will not 



116 ECCE VERITAS. 

allow of an attempt at proof, settling the wliole 
question beforehand by a proposition of falla- 
cious logic, viz. : " The course of nature is fixed ; 
a miracle is a violation of the laws of nature ; 
therefore, no amount of testimony, however hon- 
est and intelligent, can prove a miracle." 

This we say is a Fallacy. In the first place, 
a miracle is not, necessarily, a violation of the 
laws of nature. 'Not one of Christ's miracles is 
there, but might have been performed in strict 
accordance with those laws. There can be but 
little doubt that they were so performed. What 
should hinder the raising the dead by means in 
harmony with the laws of life ? Of healing, in 
harmony with the laws of cure? Of feeding 
multitudes with a small amount of food, by the 
same laws, if not in the same manner, with 
which food is originally produced? Walking 
on the water might, surely, be effected by up- 
holding the person with strong invisible hands, 
without suspending the laws of gravitation. 
And so of any other miracle said to have been 
wrought by Christ. 

But we do not care to stand on this ground, 
though we have no doubt that it is tenable. We 
take higher ground. Mr. Hume's proposition is 
also fallacious in assuming the absolute inviola- 
bility of the laws of nature, which we deny. 
How will any one demonstrate such inviola- 
bility ? God, as we have had occasion before to 
remark, is above and greater than His own laws. 
Will you say, the laws are eternal and exist of 



THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST, 117 

their own nature, and God Himself is subject to 
tliem ? Prove it. We deny it ; it brings no 
data within the domain of the reasoning faculty. 
Those laws of nature are but the expression of 
God's Will, in accordance with which He usually 
works, so that we may depend on their general 
uniformity. But, in a particular case if He has 
reason to act independently of them, who will 
say He cannot, or may not? Is He not Soy^ 
EREiGiT in all things, and His laws, like eyery- 
thing else, subject to Himself? We have al- 
ready quoted Dr. Samuel Clarke, in another 
place, on this subject. We give his words again. 
He says : " The course of Nature^ truly and prop- 
erly speaking, is nothing else but the loill of 
God producing certain effects in a continued, 
regular, constant, and uniform manner, — which 
course, or manner of acting, being in every 
movement jperfectly Arbitraey, is as easy to 
be altered at any time as to he preserved.^^ 

Nothing, therefore, can be determined as to 
the fact of miracle, by an appeal to the laws of 
Nature, and the experience of all ages in respect 
to them. It is, as we said, a question to be set- 
tled by historical proof . Neither Mr. Hume nor 
any of his party can take it upon themselves to 
deny the right of the Court, nor the standing of 
the witnesses therein. 

The idea of imposture we have excluded, as we 
take it for granted that Christ and His disciples 
were intelligent men, honest, and above deceit. 
These actions of which we are speaking were 



118 ECCE VERITAS. 

real, not simulated, if they had any existence at 
all. That they did take place seems to be abun- 
dantly proved. The feeding of the five thousand 
with five loaves and two fishes, leaves no room 
to doubt as to the reality of the transaction. 
The people knew the quantity of food at hand 
was wholly inadequate to feed so many. JNTo 
sleight of hand or dexterity of juggling could 
convince a multitude that they had all been sup- 
plied with a satisfying meal, when they were still 
hungry aDd famishing. All their senses con- 
firmed the truth of the miracle. 

Christ performed His miracles before and in 
the midst of His enemies, who were seeking every 
opportunity to overthrow Him, and yet He ap- 
peals to these very men for the truth of the 
works He performed, and there is not a single 
recorded instance of a denial of His claim, or 
charge of simulation. When we consider the 
hostility of the Jews, who can doubt that they 
would have brought forward witnesses to silence 
His claim, if it had been possible for them to do 
so ? The resurrection of Lazarus took place at 
Bethany, which was only two miles from Jeru- 
salem, and it is said many of the Jews were pres- 
ent and eye-witnesses. If such an event had not 
taken place, how easy to have disproved it. The 
whole village of Bethany would have attested 
that the marvelous story was a fancy or a fabri- 
cation. Yet, neither this nor any other of the 
asserted miraculous facts were ever controverted. 
The most that His enemies could do was to 



THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST. 119 

malign Him by saying — while admitting the 
miracles — "He casteth out devils by Beelzebub 
the prince of devils." That the devils vrere cast 
out, they did not dispute. 

The testimony of the Evangelists is corrobo- 
rated by writers immediately succeeding them, 
to whom the facts were well authenticated. One 
of these, Quadratus, who lived about seventy 
years after Christ, wrote an Apology to the Em- 
peror Adrian, in which he says, " The works of 
our Savior were always conspicuous, for they 
were real. Both they that were healed and they 
that were raised from the dead, were seen, not 
only when they were healed or raised, but for a 
long time afterwards ; insomuch that some of 
them have reached to our timesP 

Mr. Eenan remarks, " We do not say miracle 
is impossible ; we say there has been, hitherto, no 
miracle proved." We think otherwise, and offer 
the proofs in the Gospel Records as unimpeach- 
able and incontestable. If these are not to be re- 
ceived as sound, sufficient, and satisfactory, then 
all historical proofs must go for nothing. No 
facts are better attested than the miracles of 
Jesus. Mr. Kenan wrote his Life of Jesus in the 
spirit of an ardent lover of the Great Teacher ; 
but his explanation of the wonders that He 
wrought, does Him a wrong without intending 
it. Christ could not allow the people to take 
Him for what He was not, in the matter of credit- 
ing Him with divine miraculous power if He had 
not possessed it. 



120 ECCE VERITAS. 

In respect to the resurrection of Lazarus, Mr. 
Kenan thinks that Christ Himself was made the 
subject of deception by His friends. We quote 
his words on this case as follows : " We think 
something took place at Bethany which was re- 
garded as a resurrection. The family of Bethany 
may have been led, almost without suspecting it, 
to the important act that was desired. Jesus 
was there adored. ^ It seems that Lazarus was 
sick, and that it was, indeed, in consequence of a 
message from his alarmed sisters that Jesus left 
Perese. The joy of His coming might recall 
Lazarus to life. Perhaps also the ardent desire 
to close the mouth of those who furiously denied 
the divine mission of their Friend, may have 
carried these enthusiastic friends beyond all 
bounds. Perhaps Lazarus, still pale from sick- 
ness, caused himself to be swathed in grave 
clothes, as one dead, and to be shut up in his 
family tomb. Martha and Mary conducted Jesus 
to the sepulchre. The sensation which Jesus 
experienced at the tomb of His friend, whom He 
thought dead, may have been mistaken by the 
witnesses for that groaning, that trembling which 
accompanies miracles. Jesus desired to see once 
more him whom He loved, and the door having 
been removed, Lazarus came forth in his grave 
clothes. This apparition must naturally have 
been regarded as a resurrection." 

This is the attempted explanation of the Beth- 
any resurrection. A fancy indeed ! Christ was 
Himself deceived, and by His three best friends ! 



THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST. 121 

These plain, simple women, with a sick man as 
an accomplice, manage a trick so adroitly as to 
deceive not only Jesus, but a whole village and 
many Jews from Jerusalem ! We have given 
this relation in detail to show how a great and 
good man, hampered and made skeptical by the 
supposed authority of science, can invent an im- 
plausible and almost childish story to explain 
one of the sublimest events in divine history. 
We can conceive how men can reject the miracle 
outright, and treat the story as a legend ; but no 
mortal, we think, except Mr. Renan himself, 
could ever believe the story he has told as to the 
resurrection at Bethany. 

But what would Mr. Kenan say concerning 
the raising of the son of the widow of I^ain? 
Here there could be no preconcerted scheme of 
the friends of Jesus. He met the funeral pro- 
cession, seemingly, by accident, as it was emerg- 
ing from the gate of the city. His disciples and 
a multitude were with Him. He said to the 
poor widow, "Weep not"; and "touched the 
bier," saying — "Young man, I say unto thee, 
Arise. And he that was dead sat up and began 
to speak. And He delivered him to his mother. 
And there came fear on all, and they glorified 
Grod. And this rumor of Him went forth 
throughout all Judea, and throughout all the 
region round about." 

Here was an action of divine power, witnessed 
probably by hundreds of people, many of whom, 
at least, must have been quite competent to tes- 
6 



122 ECCE VERITAS. 

tify to the fact. '' We do not say, miracle is im- 
possible ; we say, there has been, hitherto, no 
miracle proved," is the statement of Mr. Renan. 
Why not proved ? Because, manifestly, he holds 
all proof impossible. This is to forestall the 
whole question. Proof, adequate, is no proof to 
him. He is very fair and liberal in his treat- 
ment of historical evidence on every other sub- 
ject that has come within the range of his ex- 
tensive inquiries, except in this. Why not 
apply the laws of evidence impartially here as in 
other things ? We, for our part, must abide by 
those laws ; and according to them the Miracles 
of Christ are established. 

We have said, that these miracles were 
wrought in accordance with natural law, though 
seeming in conflict with them. According to 
those deeper laws of the Universe, to which no 
scientist has as yet penetrated, these wonders 
may be effected, and yet it remain true, that with 
God "there is no variableness nor shadow of 
turning." In His laws, as originally ordained, 
He made provision for every contingency. Says 
the author of " Sartor E,esartus": 

" We speak of the Volume of Nature ; and 
truly a Volume it is, — whose Author and Writer 
is God. To read it ! Dost thou, does man, so 
much as know the Alphabet thereof?" "But 
J^ature, which is the Time- Vesture of God, re- 
veals Him to the wise, but hides Him from the 
foolish." "But is it not the deepest law of IS'a- 
ture that she be constant ? cries an illuminated 



THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST. 123 

class. Is not tlie Macliiiie, the Universe fixed to 
move by unalterable rules? Probably enough, 
good friends. I, too, must believe, that Nature, 
that the Universe — which no one, whom it so 
pleases, can be prevented from calling a Machine 
— does move by the most unalterable rules. And 
now of you too I make the old inquiry : What 
those same unalterable rules, forming the com- 
plete Statute-Book of JS'ature, may possibly be ? 
They stand written in our works of science, say 
you ; in the accumulated record of man's Experi- 
ence. Was man with his experience present at 
the Creation, there to see how it all went on? 
Have any deepest scientific individuals yet dived 
down to the foundations of the Universe, and 
gauged every thing there ? Did the Maker take 
them into His council, that they read His ground 
plan of the incomprehensible All ; and can say, 
This stands marked therein, and no more than 
this ? Alas, not in anywise ! These scientific 
individuals have been nowhere but where we also 
are ; have seen some handbreadths deeper than 
we see into the Infinite, without bottom or shore. " 
" System of Nature ! To the wisest man, wide 
as is his vision, Nature remains of quite infinite 
depth, of quite infinite expansion ; and all ex- 
perience thereof limits itself to some few com- 
putated centuries and measured square miles. 
The cause of Nature's phases on this, our little 
fraction of a planet, is partially known to us : 
but who knows what deeper causes these depend 
on ? what infinitely larger cycle (of causes) our 
little Epicycle revolves on ? " 



124 ECCE VERITAS. 

Tlins Mr. Carlyle discourses on the infinity, 
the incomprehensibleness of Nature, of the Uni- 
verse, and finally puts the specific question — " Is 
not a real miracle a violation of the laws of Na- 
ture ? asks several. Whom I answer by this new 
question : What are the laws of Nature ? To 
me, perhaps, the rising of one from the dead 
were no molation of these laws, but a confirma- 
tion ; were some far deeper Law, now first pene- 
trated into, and by Spiritual Force, even as the 
rest have been, brought to bear on us with its 
Material Force." 

He who is "the Life," "in whom we live and 
move, and have our being," whose word is power, 
can as easily speak life into the dead as to give 
it originally : the latter is as great a miracle as 
the former ; and no scientist can tell why and 
how we live, any more than he can explain a resur- 
rection. He can observe certain physiological 
processes ; certain laws of evolution ; but here 
his knowledge ends. What is at the bottom of 
these processes, these visible phenomena, as their 
cause and its manner of working in unfolding 
the living being, he knows not. The primal 
cause, either in plant or animal, eludes his grasp. 
What only can be said is, God does it. He is at 
bottom. That is the sum of our knowledge as 
to original causes. Yet men knowing absolutely 
nothing of the main point, are bold enough to 
say, that God cannot give life to the dead, or in- 
stant cure to the sick, or sight to the blind, or 
hearing to the deaf, because they cannot see and 



THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST. 125 

know the process, wMcli seems to be in contra- 
diction of His laws, not considering, as Mr. Car- 
lyle says, "the infinitely larger Cycle of causes 
ivliich our little Epicycle revolves on." Did 
your scientists see the process of the first life, 
where no secondary causes could have been in 
operation? Was not that a Eesureectioit ? 
Has God then lost His power or His skill ? 

Writes the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church 
of Boston, Phillips Brooks, in reply to an im- 
peachment of his orthodoxy : " The incarnation 
and the miracles which Christ Jesus is said to 
have wrought, seem to be sublimely reasonable, 
and contradicted by no knowledge of man or of 
the world which God has given us. I believe 
that they are true historically, and most natural 
philosophically. " 

While we have thus attempted to vindicate 
the divine record of the miracles of Christ, we do 
not attach the importance to them that most be- 
lievers do. They make the divinity of His mis- 
sion to rest upon them. Christ, Himself, takes 
quite other ground. He declares it to be "an 
evil and an adulterous generation that seeketh 
after a sign"; said : " They have Moses and the 
Prophets ; if they will not hear them, neither 
would they be persuaded though one rose from 
the dead." It has already been made to appear, 
we think, in what we have said on His miracu- 
lous birth, that Christ treated all such things as 
incidental. For the truth of what He said and 
did. He appealed to the reason, the consciousness, 



126 ECCE VERITAS. 

and the conscience of His hearers, challenging 
their judgment of the righteousness and divinity 
of His cause on its own inherent merits. Said 
He : " Why do ye not of your oton selves Judge 
what is right ? " " If I do not the works of My 
Father, believe Me notP " If any man will do 
His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether 
it is of God, or whether I speak of Myself." As 
if He had said : " Use your own judgment, your 
honest reason, your God-given intuitions of the 
truth ; don't pin your faith on a miracle." 

Thus He made His Keligion to stand on its 
own basis ; His own claim to rest on the Truth 
of that Religion ; the apprehension of the Truth 
of that Religion to be by the Perceptive Faculty 
of the honest, God-taught soul ; and piety and 
discipleship to be conditioned on the reception 
of that Religion so perceived to be True, and not 
because it was accompanied by miraculous works. 

Christ, not only did not pretend to prove the 
divinity of His teachings by wonders, but dis- 
paraged such method, for such a purpose. When 
the Pharisees and Sadducees desired Him to 
" show them a sign from Heaven " of His divine 
authority, he replied — " When it is evening ye 
say, it will be fair weather to-morrow, for the 
sky is red : and in the morning, it will be foul 
weather to-day ; for the sky is red and lowering. 
O, ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the 
sky, but cannot discern the signs of these times. 
A wicked, an adulterous generation seeketh after 
a sign, and no sign shall be given to it." As if 



THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST. 127 

He had said: "The Idngdom of God is clearly 
demonstrated among you by its own infallible 
evidence, and is as clearly visible to the spiritual 
eye of the honest and sincere, as the signs of fair 
weather and foul are to the physical eye ; and 
ye ask for a sign from Heaven. Ye have it al- 
ready, if ye have eyes to see withal. As ye have 
not, not even a sign from Heaven can help you ; 
nor is it needed by the humble, honest soul." 

Thus it is evident that Christ undertook to 
found His Church on broad self-evident Truth, 
and not on incidental phenomena, nor any spec- 
ulative doctrines, involving doubt and endless 
debate, such as subsequently sprung into exist- 
ence among carnal professors, and have survived 
to the present day. A miracle can only be abso- 
lutely conclusive to them that behold it. To 
others it must rest on historical testimony which 
with some would be sufficient, perhaps with most, 
while others, with minds so disposed to doubts, 
it might seem to be inadequate and unconvinc- 
ing, whose honest sincerity there might be no 
reason to doubt. But uniformity of belief in 
such things is happily not required. Here the 
rule is, as the apostle expresses it — " Receive 
him, but not to doubtful disputations " — not to 
dispute his doubtful thoughts — " for God has re- 
ceived him." 

Professor Seeley, author of " Ecce Homo," takes 
the extreme view that the miracles were abso- 
hitely essential to Christ's success. His words 
are — " H we suppose that Christ really performed 



128 ECCE VERITAS. 

no miracles, then no doubt the faith of St. Paul 
and St. John was an empty chimera ; but it is 
none the less true that those apparent miracles 
were essential to Christ's success, and that had 
He not pretended to perform them, the Christian 
Church would never have been founded, and the 
name of Jesus of Nazareth would be known at 
this day only to the curious in Jewish Antiqui- 
ties." 

And even Renan, who does not believe in the 
reality of the miracles, holds with Seeley, though 
inconsistently, we think, with other positions in 
his Life of Jesus, that the belief that miracles 
were ^vrought, was the initial force that gave 
power to the Gospel, if not absolutely essential 
to its success, at first, though not a perpetual 
necessity ; for he says — " Christ was a miracle- 
worker in spite of Himself. The miracle-worker 
and exorcist have fallen, but the religious Re- 
former shall live forever." 

The miracles of Christ, for the most part, were 
prompted by humanity. Pure love and sympa- 
thy for the suffering were their moving cause. 
Whatever bearing they had upon His reputation 
as a Divine Teacher, was incidental. Doubtless 
they served to give additional force and success 
to His Teaching. He, however, never wrought a 
miracle expressly for the confirmation of His 
claim as the Sent of God, or for calling the at- 
tention of men to His Divine Right of Grand 
Supremacy. When they would spread abroad 
the wonder and honor of a miraculous cure, He 



THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST. 129 

gave strict cliarge that they should not do it. 
Again and again did He seel^ to avoid the clamor 
of applause, and ever would hide Himself behind 
the Fathee. To seek display and honor is the 
course of the Egotist and Charlatan. He said : 
"I receive not honor from men." " I seek not 
My own glory." " If I honor Myself, My honor 
is nothing ; it is My Father that honoreth Me." 
" He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own 
glory ; but he that seeketh the glory of Him 
that sent him, the same is true, and no unright- 
eousness is in him." 

Thus did He hide Himself in the Father, mak- 
ing no account of any popularity or fame that 
His wonderful works might have spread among 
the people. J^or did He work a miracle for His 
own physical beneiit. When famishing in the 
wilderness, He would not turn the " stone into 
bread"; nor cast Himself down from the pinna- 
cle of the Temple, trusting to the promise of 
angels to bear Him up ; nor call to His assist- 
ance, on the occasion of His arrest, the legions of 
angels which He declared the Father would send 
Him at His request. But His tender heart, ever 
awake to the call of the poor and the suffering, 
could lead Him to restore an only son to a poor 
widow, who bewailed him, as she supposed, lost 
to her forever. Could give sight to a blind beg- 
gar by the wayside, restore the cripple at the 
pool, feed the famishing multitude in their ab- 
sence from their homes, and command the 
" Keys of Death and of Hades," unlock the 
6* 



130 ECCE VERITAS. 

Cliamel of the dead, and give back His friend 
Lazarus to his sisters, who, wailing, had followed 
him to the tomb. 

Such was the purpose of Christ's miracles ; not 
for the glory and confirmation of His Cause. 
Had He never wrought a miracle Cheistianity 
would have lived and triumphed all the same. 
To speak of a system of pretended or of real 
miracles, as giving to Christ His success, without 
which His whole work would have perished, and 
He only found by a search of the " curious among 
the Jewish Antiquities^^ is to take the Scaffold- 
ing for the SuPERSTRUCTUEE, the shell of things 
for the Soul and Substance of things. Socrates 
vrrought no miracles, and does he not live in his 
works, and is he not a power in the world to- 
day \ Christ was a thousand times greater than 
Socrates, and His Teachings a thousand times 
more morally profound and far-reaching than 
his, and would His work have perished and 
He only be known "to the curious in Jewish 
Antiquities " % And as to pretended miracles, 
they might serve the purpose of a Mahomet or a 
Brigham Young, but Christianity, by its own 
Inherent Truth and God- Inspired Energy, vomits 
out the vile pretence, refusing to stand even on 
the real miracle itself, though welcoming it as an 
auxiliary force in its march to conquest. 

Christ was " God manifest in the flesh "; lived 
in the bosom of the Father by uninterrupted 
communion, and so revealed Him. Thus Him- 
self and the Truths He uttered were of God — a 



THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST. 131 

Divine Revelation, independent of miracles. He 
was wliat He was solely by virtue of His charac- 
ter and His relations to the Father ; and His 
Teachings were True in themselves^ as the honest 
" doers of the will of God/' He declared should 
be able to " know " (John vii. 17). 

Therefore, we repeat, had no miracles been 
performed, that Revelation of GOD in Jesus 
Christ would have lived and propagated itself 
through the Ages and to the ends of the Earth. 
The Sermon on the Mount needs no miracle to give 
it currency or success. It seems to us that one 
has not penetrated the secret of Divine Power 
when he depends for the success of the Gospel 
on that which is extrinsic^ and not on its own 
mtal and God-given force. Flaming by its own 
light, the Truth proclaimed by Jesus Christ, as 
the Yoice of God from Heaven, resounds through 
the world, and everywhere the responsive soul 
feels the thrill of the Divine Inspiration, and 
asks no other Sign from Heaven than the Seal 
which it bears in Itself of its own Divinity. 

Had miracles been absolutely essential, they 
would have been exalted into an Institution of 
the Church and made perpetual. JSTot in the 
nominal church ; — ^that has ever been on too low 
a plane to command such Divine Powers — ^but 
in the " Church of the First-Born, whose names 
are written in Heaven "; the " True Worshippers 
who worship the Father in spirit and in truth." 
But there is no such Institution of Miracles. 
They seem to have ceased as an accompaniment 



132 ECCE VERITAS. 

of the propagation of the Gospel. We do not 
say that there may not be isolated cases of 
miracles. But if there be, they are not with the 
Hierarchy ; with the Prelates and the great 
ones ; but with the humble and otherwise un- 
known and unrenowned, like the poor Colored 
Woman, whose apparently authenticated cures 
have recently been reported as the effect of her 
earnest, persistent prayers of faith. 

Since the Resurrection and the Ascension of 
Christ to Heaven, He is His own Miracle, sur- 
viving as a Livn^o Presettce with His people, 
fulfilling His pledge — " Lo, I am with you always, 
even unto the end of the world." They see Him 
at the Head of the " Sacramental Host," wielding 
" all power in Heaven and in Earth," " going 
forth from Conquering to Conquer." He still 
" speaks as never man spake," and His Truth 
reaches the human heart with SsLF-ASSERTiNa 
authority, whereby dead souls are raised to life ; 
blind and deaf souls are made to see and hear ; 
and the demons of depravity are exorcised, and 
the subjects take their place at the feet of Jesus, 
"clothed and in their right mind." These are 
the perpetual Miracles of Christ, "who was 
dead and is Alive Forevermore"; and in the 
blaze of their glory a thousand dead Lazaruses 
raised to life are but as the twilight rays in com- 
parison of the perfect blaze of the N'oonday Sujs". 



CHAPTEK YII. 

THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST. 

The whole Jewish nation, subject to the yoke 
of their enemies, felt the necessity of a coming 
Deliverer, and were anxiously expecting such 
an arrival. The old Prophets were full of the 
idea which possessed them as inspiration, and so 
gave utterance to their conceptions of Him, of 
His kingdom, and of His work ; often in earnest 
and glowing descriptions which formed the 
groundwork of the general expectation. When 
there is a universal and spontaneous cry of the 
soul for help, that help is sure to come, for the 
very throes of the nation bring it to birth. So 
the Seers who announced the coming Messiah, 
could not fail to realize a fulfilment of their pre- 
dictions when the pregnant womb of time should 
reach the period for it to bring forth its Gift to 
Humanity. Then the nation itself may crumble 
away, but, in a sense, it shall live forever in its 
undying Bej^efactor. If, as in this case, the 
deliverance that is called for be of a spiritual 
character, the carnal will mistake, and will not 
know their Deliverer when He arrives. An 
Alexander, or a Napoleon will be hailed by such 
as in harmony with their material ideas and in- 

(133) 



134 ECCE VERITAS. 

: terests ; but it is only the heavenly-minded that 
will recognize the signs of the Reformer, the 
" King of Righteousness, " though He is really 
the Ojste for whom the people are unconsciously 
groaning. That Cheist was the Anointed One ; 
that He answered to the descriptions and fulfilled 
the predictions of the Prophets, will be clearly 
determined as we trace the characteristics by 
which the Messiah was to be distinguished. 

He was to be a King; His kingdom was to 
gloriously triumph and be perpetuated, while 
His character and work were distinctly marked. 
It had been said, "A king shall reign." "He 
shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from 
the river to the ends of the earth." "Of the in- 
crease of his government there shall be no end, 
to order and establish it with judgment and with 
justice, from henceforth, even forever." " The 
Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to 
the brightness of thy rising." "All men shall 
be blessed in Thee ; all nations shall call Thee 
blessed." So the kingdom of Messiah was to be 
universal and perpetual. 

But what was to be its character ? what the 
administration of its king ? It was to be " estab- 
lished with judgment and with justice." "He 
shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save 
the children of the needy, and shall break in 
pieces the oppressor." ''He shall come down 
like rain upon the grass, like showers that water 
the earth." "He shall reign in righteousness," 
and "in his days shall the righteous flourish, 



THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST, 135 

and abundance of peace so long as tlie moon 
endureth." So tlie kingdom was to be one of 
righteousness, justice, mercy ; and peace as the 
fruit of these. 

But what, speciiically, shall be the character 
of its King ? Who shall anoint him, and what 
shall be the quality of his work ? " The Spirit 
of the LoKD God shall be upon him, because the 
LORD hath Anointed Him, to preach good 
tidings to the meek : He hath sent him to bind 
up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to 
the captives, and the opening of the prison to 
them that are bound ; to comfort all that mourn." 
" He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice 
to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall 
he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not 
quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto 
truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, 
till he have set judgment in the earth ; and the 
isles shall wait for His law." 

Here is a kingdom after no earthly pattern, 
but one that is a reflex of the Kingdom of 
Heaven. JN'o kingdom of the Jews ; no restora- 
tion of the eartlily Hebrew Monarchy. " The 
Gentiles are to come to its brightness." Its 
King is to be anointed by God, Himself, with 
the unction of the Spirit, in which no priest is to 
bear a part. He is to make no display of royal 
pomp after the manner of earthly monarchs ; no 
march to his throne amid war and tumult, the 
"lifting up" of battle-standards, and the wild 
" cry " of victorious armies. " He shall not strive, 



136 ECCE VERITAS. 

nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in tlie 
street." Instead of being attended, honored and 
served in royal style, it is said: "Behold, thy 
King Cometh nnto thee, O daughter of Zion, 
lowly and riding upon an ass." His kingly 
work is not to issue decrees, command armies, 
and extend his dominions by means of the sword; 
but to preach the Gospel to the poor, heal the 
broken-hearted, set free the bound, deliver the 
captives, succor the bruised reeds — ^the halting 
and discouraged souls — fan to flame the smoking 
flax of smoldering spiritual desire ; open the 
eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, 
help the lame to walk, defend the poor and 
needy, smite the oppressor, vindicate justice, 
and " set Judgment in the earth." Wh.oever 
comes answering to tJiese cliaracteristics, estab- 
lishing sucJi a Idngdom, is the " ANOINTED of 
the LORD GOD— is the MESSIAH." 

CHRIST responded to these conditions. All 
the Messianic characteristics met and were em- 
bodied in Him. His Kingdom is the perfect 
realization of the prototype. " My Kingdom," 
said He, " is not of this world " — not of the spirit 
and methods of earthly States. It is the " King- 
dom of God." He announces at the outset — 
" The Kingdom of God has come unto you " ; 
but " It Cometh not with observation," — with the 
pomp and insignia of earthly royalty. " Lo, the 
Kingdom of God is within (or among) you." It 
was already noiselessly and unostentatiously re- 
vealed in their midst, in the sway of the Divine 



THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST. 137 

Principles He had lannclied among the people in 
His Sermon on the Monnt, and His Teachings in 
the Synagogues and Temple and elsewhere. The 
seat of the Kingdom is the Human Sonl ; its 
power, the sovereignty of Truth ; its vocation, 
the establishment of Justice and the enthrone- 
ment of Love. This is its spiritual manifesta- 
tion. Its visible organization comes afterward. 

The Law of Christ's kingdom is — " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
thy neighbor as thyself": a Law which, in its 
execution, fulfills all the objects of the Messianic 
reign. The kingdom was not for the Jews, as 
such, but for all mankind. " This Gospel of the 
kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for 
a witness unto all nations," is the statement in 
which Jesus proclaims its universality, and 
shows the scope of its beneficent design. Hence 
it is said : " They shall come from the East, and 
from the West, and from the North, and from the 
South, and sit down in the kingdom of God." 
The Jews having apostatized from the true idea 
of the Messianic reign, supposed the coming De- 
liverer would break the Koman yoke, march at 
the head of their armies, restore the demolished 
throne of David, and extend its sovereignty over 
surrounding nations. Cheist did not answer 
this expectation ; but on the contrary, told them 
that while men should enter the kingdom from 
the four quarters of the globe, "they, themselves, 
should be thrust out." The subjects of the 
kingdom are made so, not by being the lineal 



188 ECCE VERITAS. 

descendants of Abraham, but by virtue of the 
righteousness that distinguished Abraham — a 
condition and qualification that opened its door 
to every people who should accept its Principle 
and submit to its Law. 

As we have said, all the characteristics of the 
Messiah were embodied in Cheist. When the 
Baptist sent messengers to Jesus to know of Him 
whether " He were the One that was to come, or 
if they should look for another," He replied, — 
" Go show John those things which ye do hear 
and see : ' The blind receive their sight, the lame 
walk, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised 
up, and the poor have the Gospel preached unto 
them.' " Messiah was to be just, a friend of the 
poor, a defender of the wronged and the op- 
pressed, and full of human sympathy and love ; 
and in these works He would show John He was 
fulfilling the mission of the Anointed ; and the 
Baptist was satisfied. It was not the miraculous 
nature of some of these works that constituted 
the evidence of His Messiahship, but their 
Tiumanity, It had been foreseen, and therefore 
foretold, that the Messiah in seeking to reach 
the depth of human suffering would sometimes 
employ supernatural means ; but it was the fact 
that the suffering was reached and relieved that 
in every case constituted the proof of His Mes- 
sianic character. Any amount of wonder-work- 
ing, in the absence of this, would go for nothing, 
as they did in the case of some of the false 
Christs that arose in those days. 



THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST. 139 

The Eecords afBrm that " God anointed Jesus 
of l^azareth with the Holy Ghost and with 
power: *who went about doing good,' and 
healing all that were oppressed of the Devil: 
for God was with Him. And we are witnesses 
of all things that He did both in the land of the 
Jews, and in Jerusalem." " To Him give all the 
Prophets witness." The poor, the sick, the out- 
casts, received His merciful sympathy and help. 

But ascending to the higher and spiritual char- 
acter of His work, we hnd in Him the perfect en- 
thronement of the Law of the kingdom. We 
see Him clothed with that " Righteousness which 
was to be the girdle of Messiah's loins, and the 
Faithfulness which was to be the girdle of His 
reins." Robed in the "Truth with which He 
should judge the people," He became its personi- 
fication so as to be able to say, " I am the Truth." 
And as the Messiapi was represented as saying — 
" Lo, I come to do thy will, O God," so the Cheist 
made that will the Law of His being; and so 
making it, appealed to the fact as the sovereign 
ground of His claim. Hence He said : " If I bear 
witness of Myself, My witness is not true. I can 
of Mine own self do nothing ; as I hear I judge ; 
and my judgment is just, because I seek not 
Mine own will, but the Will of HIM who sent 
Me." " I do always the things that please Him." 

We here, therefore, as everywhere, arrive at 
the fact that it was Christ's Chaeacter that 
constituted His Divine RigM of Messiahship, 
and not a personal claim as the heir of the 



140 ECCE VERITAS. 

Jewish Throne. His mission was one of Love, 
of Judgment, and of Justice. The principle, 
strength, and glory of His kingdom, and that 
which was to give it universal sway, and adapt 
it to all races, conditions, and climes, was the 
Absolute Teuth. This was the oil with which 
He was anointed. It was this that lifted Him 
into His Royal Place, and constituted His regal 
honor and potency — ^made Him Kii^a of men. 
It was in this character as the embodiment of 
the Truth, that He was to " go forth from con- 
quering to conquer"; subduing human souls; 
renovating human society ; subordinating the 
nations ; till " the kingdom and the dominion, 
and the greatness of the kingdom under the 
whole heaven should be His, and stand forever. " 
We, therefore, repeat : Whoever should come 
with such a character^ with such a principle, 
working with such hene'Golence to such an end, 
must, of necessity, be the Messiah ; and Christ 
is that Royal Oke. He, being what He was, 
only fulfilled His destiny. What He was. He 
was naturally by virtue of His character. " Be- 
cause Thou hast hated iniquity and loved right- 
eousness, therefore God, even Thy God, hath 
anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above 
Thy fellows," is the Formula of His Inaugura- 
tion. So, exalted to the Head as the Repre- 
sentative Man of men. He proclaimed the 
supremacy of Truth, and the absolute sov- 
ereignty of God alone, to whom He and all 
were, alike, responsible, and whose kingdom 



THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST. 141 

was open and free to all as to Him, and on the 
same condition — viz., the doing of the Father's 
Will. 

Personally Christ withdrew, at His ascension, 
from the Theatre of conflict, leaving only what 
He calls the " Spirit of Truth " which should 
^'aMdeforemr,^'' as a " Comforter" of His people, 
and as a " Convincer " of the world " of sin, and 
of righteousness, and of judgment." He made 
allegiance to this Spirit of Truth, — Love to God 
and our I^eighbor — the sole ground of member- 
ship in the Messianic Kingdom. 

The Kingdom being spiritual and embracing 
all peoples in its plan, both as foretold by the 
Prophets and as inaugurated by Christ, it was 
not necessary for Paul, or any one else, either at 
first or since, to '^ effect a change of hase''^ in 
order to sweep within its jurisdiction the teem- 
ing nations of the Gentile world, as a writer 
some time since affirmed in the now discontinued 
Boston Radical. 

And here it may be proper to say, that none 
having come before Him answering to the char- 
acter and qualifications of Messiah, Christ might 
well declare, as He did — that all who had pre- 
viously claimed to be such were " thieves and 
Tohders.^^ That He referred to such pretenders 
as Theudas, who led an insurrection in the inter- 
est of himself and followers, and Judas of Gali- 
lee, who took advantage of the Koman tax, so 
hateful to Jews, to rally a revolt, in which large 
numbers took part in hope that they had found 



142 ECCE VERITAS. 

their Deliverer — we say that these and such as 
these v/ere the ones referred to by " thieves and 
robbers," is altogether manifest. Yet this lan- 
guage of Christ — " thieves and robbers " — it has 
been asserted, was meant by Him to apply to all 
the great Reformers who had appeared in times 
previous, including Moses and the Prophets, 
whom Jesus expressly honored, as everybody 
knows who has read His history ; and denounced 
the Jews and their fathers as the murderers of 
these Martyrs of God, who, He declared, would 
demand their blood of that generation. The 
writer of " Foreclosure of Spiritual Unity" — also 
in the old Radical — says : " Man can be proved 
naturally a thief and a robber, only upon the 
ground that before Oiste came to show what alone 
could make him deal honestly with God, all his 
previous teachers had been ^thieves and robbers'; 
thus perverting the plain and most obvious 
meaning of Christ's words. That He should de- 
nounce Impostors was natural ; that He could 
flout His brother Apostles of Truth, was simply 
impossible. Over and over again He endorses 
Moses and the Prophets, and puts Himself in the 
category of God's servants with them. Declares 
His own mission was to ' fulfill the Law and the 
Prophets, and not to destroy.' Tells the unbe- 
lieving Jews that ' had they believed Moses they 
would have believed Him'; and also reproves 
His own disciples for being ' slow of heart to be- 
lieve all the Prophets have said.' " 
To be sure, this defence seems almost trifling 



THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST. 143 

with tlie character of the unselfish and magnani- 
mons Christ ; but when men, claiming to be fair- 
minded Radicals, can so misinterpret the Great 
Teacher with what seems almost a wanton un- 
fairness, we feel called upon to offer a word of 
explanation and correction, though certainly not 
demanded. We trust, therefore, that man will 
henceforth escape the charge of being " naturally 
a thief and a robber"; but if he should not, let 
no one — not surely an honest Radical — attempt 
to trace the slander to Christ, the Messiah of the 
Kingdom of God. 

N"ow, Christ in His Messianic character was 
preeminently the So]^ or Mat^, in His fraternal 
relation to the Human Race as its Elder Brother, 
embodying and exalting the attributes of Human 
Nature to their highest pitch of perfection and 
grandeur. In Him Humanity took its highest 
possible form. His love for the Brotherhood 
was the deepest, the most boundless, the most 
exhaustless. He renounced every worldly ad- 
vantage, devoting Himself to poverty, exhausting 
toil, malignant persecution, and to death of the 
most excruciating character. Justice, Benevo- 
lence, Philanthropy, were personified in Him. A 
King by nature, by supreme moral strength, by 
sublime heroic endeavor. He became a servant of 
the people — "came not to be ministered unto, 
but to minister." So He sacrifices Self .for this 
end. 'No temptation can draw Him aside ; no 
suffering can make Him relax, equivocate, or 
compromise. When shown "all the kingdoms 



144 ECCE VERITAS. 

of the world " to tempt His ambition He says — 
" Get tliee beMnd Me, Satan." Wlien the people 
" wonld make Him a King " — some Judas of Gali- 
lee, or Coziba — He left His misguided votaries, 
and fled to the solitudes to escape. When He 
spoke of His suffering and death as a necessity, 
and Peter, unwilling to contemplate such a re- 
sult, said — " Be it far from Thee, Lord ; this 
shall not be unto Thee," He turned to him and 
said : " Thou art an offence unto Me ; for thou 
savorist not the things that be of God, but those 
that be of men." And in referring to the same 
tragic end. He said : " I have a baptism to be 
baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be 
accomplished." This was the Baptism of Sor- 
row and Death. And when the hour speedily 
arrived. He exclaimed, "My soul is exceeding 
sorrowful, even unto death ; and fell on His face 
and prayed, saying, 0, My Father, if it be possi- 
ble, let this cup pass from Me ; nevertheless not 
My will, but Thine be done." 

Thus we see, that He was beguiled with no 
visions of earthly glory, or of a popular follow- 
ing, such as the impostor, or even the enthusiast 
would have made the constant stimulant of his 
ambition, but kept steadily in mind the one great 
fact to which He gave utterance — " My Kingdom 
is not of this world." Through suffering and 
death He will " enter into His Glory," take up 
His Crown and Sceptre, when His Messianic reign 
would be fully inaugurated, to be carried for- 
ward in the Dispensation of His Providence, by 



THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST. 145 

the Power of the " Spirit of Truth," the "Holt 
Ghost, sent down from Heaven," and by all the 
collateral forces of knowledge, science, invention, 
and art : — in a word, by " all the powers in 
Heaven and in Earth," now "given into His 
hands " for this express purpose and end. These 
are His Forces of Salvation, and the Insignia of 
His Royalty, till the visible and organized king- 
dom shall be revealed in the "Age to come." 
At present it was but nascent ; the glory of the 
Royal Establishment was to be in the distant 
future. The preliminary work is to diffuse the 
" Gospel of the Kingdom," implant its principle in 
human hearts — its Law of Love in human souls, 
so as to make sure its peace and permanence 
when it shall arrive. " Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the Gospel to every creature," are the 
words of the great Commission. " He that re- 
ceiveth you, receiveth Me ; and he that receiveth 
Me, receiveth Him that sent Me." "Behold, I 
send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. 
Provide neither gold nor silver, nor brass in your 
purses, nor scrip for your journey ; for the la- 
borer is worthy of his meat." There was to be 
no rich provision, nor fat salaries for the mission- 
aries. They were to dei3end on the self-sustain- 
ing power of the cause. If men accepted their 
message, received the Law of the kingdom into 
their hearts, a divine enthusiasm would seize 
them and cause them to consecrate means, as 
well as themselves, to the work, and so the 
preacher would not lack the necessary supply of 
7 



146 ECCE VERITAS. 

Ms needs. Love is tlie impelling force ; and tlie 
rnle is — "Freely ye have received, freely give." 
Every disciple, every subject of the kingdom, is 
absolutely of this spirit, and calls " nothing he 
has his own," but holds all for Christ and His 
Cause. Scattered by persecution from Jerusa- 
lem, "they went everywhere, preaching the 
Word, the Loed working with them"; and there 
was no halting for want of funds. The Apostles 
and Preachers were men of trades and of business, 
and knew how to help themselves, and carry for- 
ward the work without a Missionary Society be- 
hind them at Jerusalem. Said Paul : " We have 
coveted no man's silver or gold ; ye yourselves 
know that these hands have ministered to my 
necessities, and to those who were with me." 

With such appliances, rendered all-powerful 
by the " Holy Grhost sent down from Heaven," 
" convincing men of sin, of righteousness, and of 
judgment," the Christian Cause, within about 
seventy years, from the death of its Founder, 
had spread over almost the whole Roman Em- 
pire, and into nations beyond the verge of that 
mighty sovereignty ; and has continued its march 
through the subsequent ages, as an Omnipotent 
Force, transforming human character, creating 
civilization, and then wielding that civilization 
for its own ends. And on shall it advance till 
the hour of Consummation arrives. 

Christ is called the " Lamb of G-od " to mark 
the meekness and peacefulness of His character 
during this Dispensation of Preparation ; but 



THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST. 147 

the " lion of the tribe of Jiidah " to symbolize 
His power and majesty when he " comes in His 
glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and 
shall sit on the throne of His glory" to judge 
the nations. 

That the Plan of Christ was of this character ; 
that He contemplated and attempted no formal 
organization of His followers into a ^dsible king- 
dom, or even a hierarchy, during this preparatory 
period of the propagation of His Gospel, bnt held 
it in reserve for the ^' Age to covie^^ — what He 
called the " Regeneeatiok " — is clearly stated 
by Him. When His immediate followers asked 
Him — " Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again 
the kingdom to Israel ? He said unto them : It 
is not for you to know the times or the seasons 
which the Father hath put in His own power. 
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy 
Ghost is come upon you ; and ye shall be vdt- 
nesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and all Judea, 
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of 
the earth"; thus showing the character of the 
plan as we have described it. Again, " Because 
they thought the Kingdom of God should imme- 
diately appear. He spake a parable and said : A 
certain nobleman went into a far country to re- 
ceive for himself a kingdom, and to return"; 
alluding to the custom of going to Rome to be 
invested with royal prerogative over some pro- 
vincial government subject to the Imperial au- 
thority. This nobleman, who represents the 
Messiah in the parable, delivered talents to his 



148 ECCE VERITAS. 

servants, saying, "Occupy till I come." When 
lie returned lie rewarded tlie faithful, rebuked 
the delinquent, and slew those who had revolted 
against his authority. The points are, that Christ 
was to depart to His Father to receive His king- 
dom, and to return, at the time which the " Father 
had put in His own power," when He would wel- 
come those to participate who had received His 
Gospel and entered into the spiritual brother- 
hood, but would exclude the disobedient and re- 
bellious. Again He says : " The Son of Man 
shall send forth His angels and they shall gather 
out of His kingdom all things that offend and 
them that do iniquity ; and then shall the right- 
eous shine forth, as the sun, in the kingdom of 
their Father." This He said, in the same con- 
nection, should be at the " end of the world," or 
age, as the word, in almost all such connections, 
invariably means. We quote one more very im- 
portant passage on this subject, found in the 25th 
of Matthew : " When the Son of Man shall come 
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, 
then shall He sit on the throne of His glory ; and 
before Him shall be gathered all nations." Then 
follows a scene of Judgment, where the destiny 
of each and all is determined by their love of 
humanity ; where the Messiah, the King, declares 
Himself represented in every suffering brother of 
the human race, holding what was done to these 
as done to Himself. It was by virtue of His 
Human Nature, in which as Son of God He had 
been Incarnated, that He was exalted to His Ju- 



THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST. 149 

dicial Seat and obtained the right to dispense the 
judgment in the case. He says : " The Father 
hath given Him authority to execute judgment 
also, because He is the SOJST OF MAN. " Blessed 
hands to fall into ! " With righteousness shall 
He judge the world, and the people with equity." 
To have known and honored the Judge, person- 
ally, is not necessary to a verdict of justification 
and reward. When some say, " Lord, when saw 
we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee ? or thirsty, 
and gave Thee drink ? or a stranger, and took 
Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? or sick 
and in prison, and came unto Thee?" He re- 
plies — ''Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye 
have done it unto one of the least of these, My 
brethren, ye have done it unto Me." By the 
deeds of humanity to have given proof that they 
had adopted His Principle — the Law of His 
Kingdom — '' Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself," is all that He requires ; and this is suf- 
ficient for a heathen and Christian alike ; for 
" in every nation he that feareth God and work- 
eth righteousness is accepted of Him," whether 
a personal follower of Christ or not, for this is 
the genius of the Gospel as a system of Pein"ci- 
PLES, and those Principles are CHRIST. These 
deeds of Justice and Mercy which are required 
in the divine ordeal, are the passport to the 
kingdom, and only the selfish and inhuman are 
excluded. Christ will establish a Society of 
Unity, Love, and Peace, and can admit of no dis- 
turbing forces such as had caused the misery and 



150 ECCE VERITAS. 

conflict of men during tlie preceding ages of the 
world. To receive these divine Principles is to 
receive Christ ; and to receive Christ is to " re- 
ceive the Father who sent Him "; and this every 
just, loving, and noble soul shall come to see and 
know at last, and thus know that He is the 
" Savior of all men," and rightfully the univer- 
sal Kii^o and Judge. 

The time of this second coming and reign of 
Christ, the Messiah, is nowhere fixed by Him, 
especially not as then near at hand. The early 
disciples seem to have adopted such an idea, 
mistaking some things that Jesus said in con- 
nection with the subject, but without warrant 
from Him. Indeed He cautioned them against 
the idea. Even now there are those who will 
have it that Christ inculcated the error and, 
therefore, was, as well as His followers, disap- 
pointed. Members of the " Boston Radical 
Club^^ a while since, discussed this subject and 
took this view. And Mr. Kenan remarks in his 
"Life of Jesus," that He predicted the end of 
the world and His second coming in that genera- 
tion. Let us see how the case stands. 

The principal discourse, wherein this subject 
is spoken of, is in the 24th Chapter of Matthew, 
and parallel places in the other Narratives. In 
the first part of the chapter in Matthew, Jesus 
speaks of the calamities that were to come upon 
the Jewish Nation, and particularly those that 
were to befall Jerusalem and the Temple. Among 
other things, of Jerusalem He says, — " The days 



THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST. 151 

shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall 
cast a trench about thee, and keep thee in on 
every side; and shall lay thee even with the 
ground ; and they shall not leave one stone upon 
another." And of the Temple He says, — " Yerily, 
I say unto you. There shall not be left here one 
stone upon another that shall not be thrown 
down." The impending ruin was visible to Him, 
as He saw the causes at work which should 
speedily produce the catastrophe. One of such 
divine illumination as Jesus, so at home among 
principles and causes, could not but see the 
coming destruction. Of course, in such an as- 
sault upon Jerusalem as Christ saw impending, 
the Temple He well knew would be the special 
object of Pagan indignation. 

Having uttered His prediction of Jerusalem's 
calamity and the razing of the Temple, He passes 
to the subject of His coming and the end of the 
world, or age. After discoursing some time 
upon this. He resumes the former topic and 
says, — " When ye see all these things know that 
it " — (Jerusalem's overthrow) — " is near, even at 
the door. Yerily, I say unto you : This genera- 
tion shall not pass till all these things be ful- 
filled"; "but of tliat day and hour (the end of 
the world and His second coming) knoweth no 
MAN, no, not the angels of Heaven, neither the 
Son, but My Father onlyy He had before 
admonished His disciples, when they should see 
the evils that should befall that generation, not 
to be troubled as though the great event was at 



152 ECCE VERITAS. 

hand, saying — "The end is not yet." "TMs 
Gospel of the kingdom must first be preached in 
all the world for a witness to all nations ; and 
tlien shall the end come^^ — a work that no sane 
man ought to suppose accomplishable in the 
days of those then living; and which has not 
yet been accomplished ; and Christ was no en- 
thusiast to look for improbable or impossible 
things. Till that work is done, on the word of 
Christ, Himself, no man may build an expecta- 
tion of the speedy coming of the end, whatever 
that may be. Besides how could Christ predict 
His immediate appearing, and the end of the 
world, when He had just said : " Of that day and 
hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of 
Heaven, neitlier tlie Soi^"," Himself, "but the 
Father only " % 

When, therefore, the Boston Radicals, or Mr. 
Renan, or any others, say that Christ afiirmed His 
own speedy second coming and was mistaken, it 
will have been seen, we trust, that the mistake is 
theirs and not Christ's. 

There is apparently some confusion in the 
narration of this matter, arising, doubtless, from 
the incorrectness of the Narrators in giving the 
order of events as rehearsed by Christ : for He 
never mixed His subjects, or evinced the least 
confusion of thought or statement, whereby the 
hearers could be left in doubt of His meaning. 
But even from the seemingly involved order of 
statement, we are able to find the key of the 
explanation, which is as given above. 



THE MESSIAHSHIP OF CHRIST. 153 

On the whole, we are able to see distinctly the 
order of Messiah's plan of procedure. By His 
supreme inherent and acquired qualifications, He 
takes His place as the Head of the New Dis- 
pensation, the Representative of the Father, 
whose attributes of Justice and Love become 
incarnate in Him, and "He is God with us." 
Thus endowed, He becomes the Deliverer to 
save sinful and oppressed souls; and calls to 
His aid representative men, to whom He commits 
the propagation of the principles of His King- 
dom, and bids them " go into all the world and 
preach the Gospel to every creature," and thus 
" prepare a people for His name," promising to 
" be with them always, even to the end of the 
age"; when He will come again as King and 
Judge, "' with power and great glory," fulfill the 
ancient prophecy and establish a "kingdom 
under the whole heaven, break in pieces and 
consume all the (adverse) kingdoms of the 
world ; whose dominion is an everlasting do- 
minion, and His kingdom that which shall not 
pass away." Then, in this Regeneratiojs", they 
that have received the Law of the Kingdom — the 
Principle of Reciprocal Love, made manifest in 
all the Humanities— "shall shine forth in the 
kingdom of their Father"; and Christ shall 
reign, administering "judgment and equity" 
over a quiet, happy, and harmonious world, till 
the end of this, the proper Messianic Age, 
reaching from the time of His Second Advent 

7* 



154 ECCE VERITAS. 

to the consummation of His work in subduing 
all adverse powers, even Death ; " when He will 
deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father," 
and become subject Himself to the Father, that 
" GOD may be ALL IN ALL." 



CHAPTER YIII. 

THE DIYINE DEMOCEACY OF CHEIST. 

Christ's Mission was not only to reveal the 
" True God," and furnisli a System of Truth, but 
to effectuate a Brotherhood among men as a 
basis of an Everlasting Society, wherein Liberty, 
Fraternity, and Equality should not be a mere 
name, but an absolute realization. This could 
only be reached through unity on the basis of 
Meciprocal Love. He sets forth His own unity 
with the Father, and shows that the unity of the 
Brotherhood is to be upon the same princijple and 
to be brought about in the same way. Of His 
own unity with the Father He says, " The Father 
is in Me and I in Him." " I am not alone, but I 
and the Father who sent Me." " I and my Father 
are One." 

But this unity He expands so as to include all 
true and loyal souls. The unity of the many, of 
all, is to be the same, as perfect and complete as 
that of the Son and the Father. So He says, 
" Ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye 
in Me, and I in you." " If any man love Me, he 
vdll keep my words ; and my Father will love 
him, and We will come unto him and make 
Our abode with him. " The unity is still more 

(155) 



156 ECCE VERITAS. 

distinctly and intensely set forth, as follows : 
" Father, the hour is come ! Glorify Thy Son, 
that Thy Son may glorify Thee. I have man- 
ifested Thy name to them Thou hast given Me. 
I pray for them, for they are Thine. And all 
Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine. Neither 
pray I for these alone, but for all them who shall 
believe on Me through their word ; that they all 
may be one ; as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in 
Thee ; that they may be One in US : I in them 
and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect 
in Ojn^e." 

The Timtj is thus complete. The good and 
true are one in Christ, and all are one with the 
Father — Perfect in One. But this is not Bud- 
dhistic absorption. It is not the merging of the 
less in the greater, so that the less, parting with 
its own distinctive attributes, ceases to exist as 
Itself. The very nature of consciousness, rea- 
son, and will, forbids this. Besides, man's social 
nature proves God's nature to be social. The 
demands of His own nature, therefore, require 
the personality of all who enter into the unity, 
to remain distinct, while all hearts throb in uni- 
son, and all wills respond as one in obedience to 
the social law — the Law of Love. 

The subjects of the unity being God and 
human souls, that unity must consist of assimi- 
lation of cJiaractar and will, and must be by 
sovdQ principle common to all. That principle 
must be one that enters into the Divine Nature, 
in conformity to which God is a Unity in Him- 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 157 

self. All the attributes of God exist and are in 
nnison under the control of the one essential 
principle of His Moral JSTature, which is Love. 
This must forever secure the unchaDgeableness 
of God, iDrevent self-conflict, and constitute Him 
an eternal UisriTy. Hence, one that was divinely 
illuminated has said, " He that dwelleth in love, 
dwelleth in God and God in him, for God is 
Love." 

Thus, what is so inevitable in the philosophy 
of the case, Christ everywhere recognizes and 
makes the foundation of His system. He an- 
nounced at the very beginning of His work, 
" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and thy neighbor as thyself," declaring 
that on this '' hang all the Law and the Prophets. " 
This He made the Base, the all-transforming 
power. Through this His disciples were to be 
initiated into the Brotherhood of His kingdom. 
Not through ceremonies, speculative beliefs, not 
even through sacrificial blood only as a means of 
manifesting the love of God, and " drawing all 
men to Christ," crucified as an expression of that 
love. 

Jesus came to show us the Father as the God 
of Love ; and so interpenetrated was He with this 
principle, that His will was in perfect concord 
with the will of the Father, and He could say, 
" I do always the things that please Him." So 
wholly was His heart, thought, purpose, action, 
in harmony with God, that there was but one will 
between them. Like confluent streams they 



158 ECCE VERITAS. . 

flowed, necessarily, in one channel. " I come to 
do Thy will, God," and "not my will but Thine 
be done," are the words in which He declared the 
Divine Harmony. But all are to be one as 
Christ and the Father are one. Hence the wills 
of all are to be one with the will of God ; in other 
words, His will is to be the sole supreme Law, 
and Love the moving cause. As in physics, any 
number of things that are similar to any given 
thing are similar to each other ; so moral natures 
assimilated to the one principle of Love, must 
be essentially alike — must be at one with that 
Principle, and at one with one another ; at one 
with Christ who embodied it, and at one with the 
Father, the God who is Love. 

Christ does not reason this as a philosopher, 
though it is philosophy and the purest deduc- 
tion of reason. It was not His work to found a 
school of philosophy. Had He done so He would 
have been as little known as Socrates and Plato ; 
and then truly, as Ecce Homo says about the 
absence of miracles, He would only be known to 
the "curious in Jewish Antiquities." That He 
could have expounded in philosophic phrase and 
method, written books on the laws of mind and 
the principles of things, and reasoned with far- 
reaching thought, who will doubt? That He 
seized truth and announced it ; grasped principles 
and flung them forth without the schoolmen's 
methods, appealing at once to the consciousness, 
conscience, and reason, shows how much better 
He knew the human soul, and its relations to 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 159 

truth, and His greater laitli both in the truth 
and man, than those philosophers. And His 
hold on the souls of men, and His triumphs over 
two hemispheres for more than eighteen hundred 
years, prove that His is the true Divine Method, 
not to be superseded by "Ethics of Science," or 
" Societies for Ethical Culture," or by " Soci- 
ology," or the "Scientific Method," though it 
welcomes these as collateral auxiliary helps in 
solving the Social Problem. 

Christ does not deal with dogmata, but with 
essential Truth. What He speaks He sees and 
knows. " We speak that we do know, and testify 
that we have seen," are the words in which He 
afiirms His intuitive perceptions. Dwelling as a 
Loyal Soul in the midst of Principles that radiate 
their light as the central sun of the Spiritual 
Realm, He deals at once with causes, as we be- 
fore have had occasion to say, and traces them 
without process to their results, with unerr- 
ing celerity and directness. This is not a di- 
gression, for we are discovering the Principle 
on which Christ founded His Divine Democratic 
Society. 

Now, what, from these principles, is the actual 
realization in that Brotherhood that Jesus came 
to establish ? We do not mean in Heaven, but 
here upon the earth and among men. He had 
said, " By this shall all men know that ye are 
My disciples, if ye have love one for another." 
He was to verify to the world the Law of the 
Brotherhood, " TJiou sJialt love tJiy neiglibor as 



160 -ECCE VERITAS. 

THYSELF," a Law involving the full consecration 
of life, powers, and property for the well-being 
of others, as Christ, Himself, had done. "Be- 
cause He hath laid down His life for us, we 
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren," 
was the clearly involved law of action ; and if 
life was to be given up for the welfare of others, 
of course every less thing was to follow under 
the same rule. Selfishness was completely ex- 
cluded. Personal interest was not to be con- 
sidered, only as involved in the general welfare. 
Christ and His cause were everything ; the peace 
and unity of the Fraternity paramount. 

Christ initiated no impracticable thing when 
He founded the Brotherhood of Equality on the 
basis of Reciprocal Love. The first Christians 
caught the spirit of the Master and pro ved them- 
selves worthy disciples, and showed that they 
followed no idle dream when they entered into 
those arrangements of fraternity which they at 
once adopted to give life to the Idea of unselfish 
mutual love. " All that believed were together, 
and had all things common ; and sold their pos- 
sessions and goods, and parted them to all as 
every man Tiad need. And they continued daily 
with 0]^E Ac COED, and did eat their meat with 
gladness and singleness of heart. And the multi- 
tude of them that believed were of one heart and 

ONE SOUL." 

Such is the record of Christ's cause as He 
founded it. It is the kingdom of God among 
men. He had taught His disciples to pray, 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 161 

" Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth 
as it is done in Heaven," and here it is nascent, 
and destined to grow and expand nntil "that 
which is perfect is come. " 'Not in that particular 
form where all things were held in common, but 
in principle the same. For the love that is the 
basis, excluding all selfishness, gives its possessor 
to see in his fellow another ^elf, to whom he 
says, "All mine is thine, and all thine is mine." 
All who are " of the truth " are and must be for- 
ever, of " one heart " and of " one soul^^ worldng 
ever for the common good, under the one supreme 
Law of Love. And they, and they only, are the 
Church of God on earth ; and more and more 
must draw into visible unity, as more and more 
they come to know its principle^ feel the power 
of the Spirit of Christ, and comprehend Christi- 
anity as a system of equality and love. 

The early harmony of the Christian Brother- 
hood was not visibly disturbed till broken in 
upon by dogmatic theology and carnal partisan- 
ship at Corinth. And then it was only the 
organization that was disturbed, the operation 
taking effect upon the worldly-minded who had 
attached themselves to it, while the real dis- 
ciples, the genuine members of the kingdom, 
whether in the organization or outside of it, re- 
mained intact, bound still " in the unity of the 
Spirit, and in the Bond of Peace." This Bond 
and Unity are not to be broken, and cannot be, 
any more than the law of attraction between the 
particles of matter in physical substances. Good 



162 ECCE VERITAS. 

men may be brought into false outward relations 
by the force of accident or the fatality of circum- 
stances, but love will assert itself, like the law of 
attraction, and prove itself stronger than dogma 
or sectarism. There is no real union between 
Hyacinthe and the Pope, while every soul, loyal 
to the truth, takes him to his heart as a brother 
beloved. There is, to-day, more real union be- 
tween the most advanced Christians of the sects 
and the Radicals, so called, than there is among 
the orthodox themselves. So it must be among 
all truth-seekers for Truth's sake, till they come 
to join hands as well as hearts in the "one 
Faith," " one Baptism " of the Holy Ghost, and 
one Worship, " in spirit and in truth," of the 
" One Only True God." 

Such was the Ideal of the Great Teacher, which 
it was His to make real. Its realization is the 
proof of the divinity of His Mission, the demon- 
stration to the world that His system is of God. 
Unity is the principle of God's physical works. 
It is seen in the system of worlds, in animals 
and plants, and in the physical and mental 
structure of the human race. Any spiritual 
system, therefore, professing to be derived from 
Him, must involve the same Principle of Unity 
and be constructed upon it so as to be seen, or it 
fails of its claim. Christ saw this clearly and 
hence made it the crowning proof to the world 
of the Heavenly origin of His work. So He 
prayed, — " Sanctify them through Thy Truth 
that they all may be one ; as Thou, Father, art in 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 163 

Me and I in Thee ; that they may be One in Us ; 
that the world may know that Thou Hast Sent 
Me." ISTo miracle would demonstrate it ; and 
Christ appealed to none for this purpose. His 
triumph is in the triumph of His Principle of 
Unity. And in this He was victorious from the 
beginning. His genuine followers, like Himself, 
made Love their Law, and were made substan- 
tially one under its power. Their possessions 
and themselves were merged in the Brother- 
hood ; and they were so baptized into the spirit 
of Christ that " no one called aught that he had 
his own," and " all men took knowledge of them 
that they had been with Jesus." Here is a 
Teacher who lived and lives in His Followers as 
the perpetual proof that He came from God ; as 
it is their proof that they are His disciples. 
Love, involving Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, 
where " he that is Chiefest is the servant of all," 
is the Supreme Law, the indissoluble Bond, 
marking off from the selfish world the " sancti- 
fied through the Truth," and constituting them 
the Brotherhood, the pure Divine Democracy, in 
which all interests and all wills are merged in 
One. Cheist's Church was this, is this, and 
ever is this. 

A writer in the Boston Radical — ^now dis- 
continued, as before stated — in tracing the his- 
tory of the, so called, Christian Church, from 
the days of the schism at Corinth through the 
war of dogma in the Eastern and Western 
Churches, resulting in the declared supremacy 



164 ECCE VERITAS. 

of the Pope, and finally in the multitude of 
clashing Protestant Sects, declares "Spiritual 
Unity Foreclosed," and says : "It was by neces- 
sity of its nature, as based on the claims entered 
by its Master, that Christianity became, from the 
outset, that sway of dogma which we have 
learned to regard as a root of bitterness so much 
more than that tree of life which it has claimed 
to be." 

That dogma has been " a root of bitterness," a 
bone of contention, which came of schism through 
the carnally minded, we very well know ; but 
that the "sway of dogma," involving all this 
polemical strife, this fierce war of religious fac- 
tions, resulting in multiplied and ever multiply- 
ing sects, sprung from "claims entered by the 
Master," or that the dogmas find the least 
countenance or support in His teachings, is abso- 
lutely unsustained by the fact, as, we trust, has 
been made to appear in these pages. We have 
seen that the Master's System is one of Abso- 
lute Principles alone. This war of dogma, and 
the Babel confusion and division that have 
sprung from it, only prove that the organizations 
of strife were not and are not the true Churches 
of Jesus Christ ; and fair-minded, independent, 
critical thinkers should not study and judge 
Christiai^ity by them. Unity cannot come of 
authority and external pressure, as attempted 
by Catholicism ; nor by attempting agreement in 
doctrines and speculatiw faiths through inter- 
pretation by private judgment, after the Prot- 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 165 

estant method. Disruption and war have ever 
been, and mnst ever be the results of those 
methods. But unity from Chrisfs Principle is 
a necessity of the case ; springs from it as cer- 
tainly as the particles of matter constituting the 
solid earth, settle into repose around the centre 
of gravity. All who are " of the Teuth," gravi- 
tate to Him " loho is the Teuth," as the Centeal 
Soul, and repose in Him ; where Peace is the 
harmony of action^ and Love the Law of the 
whole. The Teuth believed is self-emdent^ shines 
by its own light ; all else is TioTz-essential, of 
which the Brotherhood takes no account, but 
leaves it, where it belongs, to private judgment, 
which is the right of all, not to be questioned, in 
which unessential things there is no call for 
agreement, as there is no necessity, and, where 
all are equal and equally free, no authority to 
impose it. The whole strife of dogmatic theology 
has been an attempt to " lord it over God's heri- 
tage," like the " great ones of the Gentiles who 
exercise authority upon them"; but, said Christ 
to His disciples — "So it shall ]^ot be amo^^o 

YOU." 

Any association, either religious or civil, on 
whatever plan constructed, that disregards essen- 
tial agreement of character as based on Love, 
can only bring together, mechanically, individ- 
uals with more or less selfishness at bottom, 
and can never, therefore, for any length of time, 
act in agreement, but must sooner or later explode 
by the conflicting elements that enter into its 



166 ECCE VERITAS. 

very structure. Stable and harmonious human 
government can only come from the infusion of 
the spirit of Christ's kingdom, first into the 
individual members thereof, and then through 
them into its institutions, laws, and administra- 
tion. So fast as individual character is trans- 
formed by welcoming those Principles that are 
the strength, harmony, and glory of the Grovern- 
ment of God ; so fast as the members of the 
Commonwealth become loyal to the Divine 
Authority, will they be able to establish society 
and government on the stable foundation of 
Justice and Love, and realize the Unity and 
Solidarity of the True Democracy, in which all 
are Brothers, and dwell together as such ; where 
" there is neither Jew, nor Greek," nor Anglo- 
Saxon, nor Teuton, nor Celt, nor African, nor 
Asiatic, "nor Male, nor Female," but ''all are 
0]^E "; — so fast, and no faster, for so the Eternal 
Laws have ordained. And so it follows that the 
true Government is Theocratic-Democratic, in 
which the Law of God's Kingdom and the law 
of the Government ; the members of God's King- 
dom and the members of the Government, are 
the same. 

Under the Law of Christ's Democracy, work- 
ing the unity and consequent equality of all its 
members, the society must be absolutely free 
from everything that would jar with that equal- 
ity, or tend to the conflict of interests, or to 
violate the principle of Fraternal Love. Hence, 
there must be no supremacy of the individuals, 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST, 167 

no "lords over God's heritage," as an Apostle 
has said, on the word of Christ that such things 
were not to be tolerated, but that each should 
prove his superiority only in his superior service; 
" even as the Son of Man came not to be minis- 
tered unto, but to minister y And, said Jesus : 
" Call no man father upon the earth ; for One is 
your Father who is in Heaven." "Neither be. 
ye called masters ; for One is your Master, even 
Christ, and All ye ake Beetheeis^ " — equal 
before the One Father in that Father's love, and 
in every right and privilege belonging to the 
Brotherhood. Thus all Hierarchies are excluded. 
1^0 Priests, no Dignitaries, no Monseigneurs, 
Eeverends, Right Reverends, Prelates, Cardinals, 
or Popes, with their under officials of deacons, 
sub-deacons, and acolytes, are for an instant 
admissible among the unworldly and simple sub- 
jects of Christ's kingdom, where self-sacrifice is 
the rule, and humility and service the only badge 
of distinction. 

And here it is to be said, that this equality 
and the spirit of love in which it is maintained, 
of necessity, excludes Slavery from the Sacred 
Enclosure. Christ's Church is absolutely free. 
N"o master, no slave. "If the Son shall make 
you free ye shall be free indeed " is His charter 
of liberty. Slaveholding is quite beyond the 
pale of the Christian Fold. 

Ecce Homo assumes it to be, not only possible 
for slavery to exist in the Christian Brother- 
hood, but that it actually found a home in this 



168 ECCE VERITAS, 

divine Society, constituted by Him whose mis- 
sion it is " to preach deliverance to the captives, 
and set at liberty them that are bound." Pro- 
fessor Seeley says : '' Christian teachers exhorted 
the slaves to obedience to the cruel and unreason- 
able masters, while on the other hand, they 
exhorted the masters not to set them free, but 
simply to treat them well. Therefore it is that 
Paul, writing to Philemon, exhorts him to re- 
ceive back Onesimus, no longer a servant, but a 
brother beloved. It may, however, surprise us 
that he does not exhort Philemon to emancipate 
him. But this does not seem to occur to the 
apostle ; and it has been a matter of complaint 
against the Christian Church, that though it 
announces principles irreconcilable with slavery, 
it never pronounced the institution, itself, un- 
lawful." 

Now, if this is true, it might well be a " com- 
plaint against the Christian Church." Christ's 
principles were against slavery, but the practice 
of His Church tolerated it. Impossible. That 
Church that tolerates slavery is none of His, for 
He cannot deny His principles ; and the sole 
purpose of His Church was to embody His prin- 
ciples. What other business has a Church of 
Jesus Christ? This whole passage from Ecce 
Homo contains but one truth, that where he 
says, Paul sent back Onesimus to be received, 
"7Z<9 longer a servant ^^ but a brother beloved.^^ 
And yet he says, " It may surprise us that he 
does not exhort Philemon to emancipate him." 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 

He was emancipated already, if ever a slave, — of 
which there is some doubt. The mutual con- 
version of master and servant to Christ had, ipso 
facto, set the servant free ; and Paul understood 
it, and knew well that Philemon so understood 
it, and hence tells him to receive him, " not now 
as a slave,^^ but above a slave, "a^ a brother 
beloved." 

There were slaves converted to Christ who had 
unbelieving masters, such as the Apostle terms 
as " under the yo'ke^'' over whom the Christian 
law had no authority, and the slaves remained 
slaves. These were exhorted to obedience, that 
'• the name of God be not blasphemed," through 
their turbulence in asserting their right of liberty ; 
and this they were to do, not as of duty to the 
masters, but with " conscience toward God, suf- 
fering wrongfully ^^ and " with good- will doing 
service, as to the Lord, and not to men.^^ This is 
all there is of exhortation to obedience, and in 
every case it is to those " under the yoke," and 
could not be freed. But those who had " be- 
lieving masters," and were by the fact of such 
Christian relation free, the Apostle still exhorts 
even these " not to despise them because they are 
hretJiren,^^ and therefore could claim their service 
no longer, but to remain with them in their free 
capacity, and " do them service," notwithstand- 
ing. How else, if they were not free, could they 
" despise " their masters, who were now only such 
in name ? And this, we believe, is the only ex- 
hortation given to slaves of men who had become 
8 



170 ECCE VERITAS. 

believers ; and this is an exhortation, as we see, 
not to obedience, but to forego their right to 
leave the service of the masters, and " do them 
service rather because they are faithful and be- 
loved," and not because they were bound to do it. 
But the statement of Ecce Homo that " Christian 
teachers taught the masters not to free their 
slaves,^^ quite astonishes us. Where does he find 
such an exhortation ? We venture to assert, not 
in all the Apostolic writings. It seems they did 
exhort the slaves of unbelieving masters, "if 
they might be free, to choose it r other y That 
there should be slaveholders in the Church as 
founded by Christ, is a mere assumption. It is 
simply impossible that there should be such. 
The moment those who had held slaves entered 
the Brotherhood and came under the Law, " Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," their slaves 
became ipso facto free, and they themselves 
could be slaveholders no longer. This was not 
only the principle but the practice of the Primi- 
tive Church. 

And now we have a Reformer and a Radical 
come to the side of the Professor — Mr. M. D. 
Conway. Here again the old Boston Radical, 
which seems to have been a vehicle of much 
heterogeneous thought, is the medium of Mr. 
Conway's contribution to the Bible argument for 
slavery. He inquires, "What has the Bible 
done for the oppressed of every land % In vari- 
ous degrees what it has done for the American 
slaves. The position of the Churches, so far as 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 171 

the Bible was concerned, was impregnable. It 
represented God as handing down a slave-code 
from Sinai, and Paul as encouraging those who 
were slaves to remain slaves, the same Apostle 
having made himself the great exemplar of those 
who returned fugitive slaves to their masters,'^'' 
So the ghost of the Bible argument for slavery 
that was laid some thirty years ago, starts up 
again, not at the bidding of some Pro-Slavery 
Divine to sustain " the sum of all villanies," — 
for that necessity is past, — but at the call of a so- 
called radical and abolitionist, to make an issue 
with the Bible itself. When the early and oft- 
repeated assertion was made that the Bible was 
for slavery, the reply was, in the first place, then 
the worse for the Bible ; it must also go down 
with slavery, for the cruel inhumanity shall not 
stand. But as Slavery went down and the Bible 
did not, the presumption is that the argument 
from the Bible failed. That it did fail we know ; 
and most of the pro-slavery side were made to 
admit it, and Mr. C.'s reassertion of it will not 
be likely to change the verdict. Theodore D. 
Weld's "The Bible versus Slavery"; Beriah 
Green's " The Chattel Principle the Abhorrence 
of Jesus Christ ; or, no Refuge for Slavery in the 
N'ew Testament"; Geo. B. Cheever's "The Guilt 
of Slavery and the Crime of Slaveholding, Dem- 
onstrated from the Hebrew and Greek Scrip- 
tures," together with innumerable discourses, 
lectures, pamphlets, and ISTewspaper articles in 
the same line, by a host of able thinkers and 



172 ECCE VERITAS. 

writers, exliaustecL the proof for the anti-slavery 
character of the Bible, and demonstrated their 
side of the argument as clearly as a problem in 
Euclid. They made it certain, not only that it 
does not sanction chattel slavery, but that it is a 
many-sided Battery of prohibitions, denuncia- 
tions, and curses against it and all opx3ression ; 
and so they made that very Bible, — especially the 
Law of Christ's Gospel,— the chief instrument of 
the overthrow of American Slavery, as the aboli- 
tionists of England before had done in ending it 
in the British West Indies. If Mr. Conway has 
not familiarized himself with the argument in 
the works to which we have alluded, we com- 
mend those writings to his notice, for we shall 
not even summarize the proof with which the 
writers stormed and carried the enemy's works. 
What we are now occupied with is to show that 
the Cheist of the Bible is against slavery, and 
does not allow it in His Divine Democracy. 

Mr. Conway says, ''Paul made himself the 
great exemi3lar of those who returned fugitive 
slaves." Was it under Moses Stuart, or Dr. 
Dewey, or Dr. Lord that Mr. C. studied divinity, 
that he should take up the old cry of such 
divines, ''Paul sent Onesimus hack to Phile- 
mon " ? 

As we have said in our remarks on Ecce 
Homo's allusion to this case, it does not clearly 
appear whether Onesimus had been the slave of 
Philemon or not. Several circumstances would 
seem to show he had not ; such as his owing 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 173 

Philemon money, and that Panl calls him Phi- 
lemon's " brother in thejiesli^^ as well as '' in the 
Lord," indicating that he might have been a 
brother or half-brother, holding a subordinate 
position, and therefore termed a servant. But 
whatever his capacity, he left the service of 
Philemon, who was a member of the Church at 
Colosse, and fled to Rome, where he made the 
acquaintance of Paul and was converted by the 
instrumentality of the Apostle ; and so, by the 
Christian Law, was placed in equality with his 
old master. His departure from Philemon seems 
to have been the result of a quarrel, and Paul, in 
order to restore them to amicable relations, sent 
him back. But how ? and as what % As the 
Apostle is the great " exemplar of those who re- 
turned fugiti'Ge slaves,^'' we expect to find that he 
seized his victim by the throat, dragged him be- 
fore some Roman Commissioner for the return 
of fugitives, had him banned by ex parte testi- 
mony as Philemon's chattel, and hurried him off 
in handcuffs to Colosse, to receive a hundred 
lashes on arrival, and feel again the iron of 
slavery enter his soul. How happily are we dis- 
appointed. Paul writes his letter to Philemon, 
places it in the hands of the fugitive himself, 
allows him to go his way without even the escort 
of a Roman sheriff to see that he did not abscond 
a second time. In this letter he tells Philemon 
to " receive him, not now as a servant , but ahove 
a servant, 2ihr other beloved, both in the flesh and 
in the Lord," and ^' if he owes thee aught to place 



174 ECCE VERITAS. 

it to Msj the Apostle's, account"; tlius insisting 
on the freedom of Onesimus under Christ's Law ; 
for whatever had been the nature of his personal 
service, he was not to resume it, at least, with the 
Apostle's consent. 

Such was the manner of Paul's sending back 
Onesimus to Philemon, by which he became 
" the great exemplar of those who returned fu- 
gitive slaves." Had we had more such slave 
catchers in the time of our own raids on 
the fugitives from bondage, many a poor 
victim would have found a happier destiny, and 
many a divine a more honorable and Christian 
record. 

Here let us see what is the status of Woman in 
the Christian Fraternity. Christ's filial love to 
the Father was but the exact counterpart of His 
fraternal love for the human brotherhood ; and 
the one, of necessity, involved the other. His 
mission into the world was to show in His own 
loyalty to the laws on which human nature is 
constructed, to what a pitch of excellence, glory, 
and happiness that human nature may be ele- 
vated, and to furnish in the force of His own 
character, example, and teaching, the help neces- 
sary to lift the human soul to its true place and 
dignity. With such an ideal ; with such a mis- 
sion of such grandeur and breadth ; and with a 
heart of love and a soul of power urging Him 
and adapting Him to His task. He could not do 
otherwise than place men and women, alike, on 
equal footing in His regard and in the rights 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 175 

and privileges of the Society He founded. His 
plan must, of necessity, embrace both on equal 
terms. 

Hence we find Him at the outset of His public 
work espousing the cause of Woman by de- 
nouncing the tyrannous and hard-hearted men of 
His nation for ruthlessly sacrificing her rights 
and happiness as a wife in " putting her away " 
at their whim or caprice, or for any cause save 
that which, from its own nature, dissolved the 
marriage contract. The administration of the 
law by the traditionists had made of the mar- 
riage bond a farce, which the husband could 
dissolve at will by giving the wife a " writing of 
divorcement," and sending her away. Expedi- 
ency in the rulers, and " hardness of heart " in 
the husbands, had supplanted all love of justice 
and honor towards the married woman, till un- 
righteous divorce had become a crying sin, which 
fell upon the wife as a crushing wrong. 

The great heart of Jesus that throbbed for 
humanity, and for woman as a part of that 
humanity, could not but denounce such wanton 
assault upon her marital rights and happiness. 
And He did it fearlessly in the face of the 
current code and the strong public opinion that 
supported it. 

Marriage is an institution of Humanity for its 
protection, education, and highest development, 
and it was the fatal stab at these interests in the 
unrighteous divorce that so aroused the hostility 
of Christ against the villainous practice. It was 



176 ECCE VERITAS. 

not the sin against God, separately considered, 
but the crime against humanity that stirred His 
indignation and evoked His burning rebuke. 

He not only denounced the assault on her 
marital rights, but also the invasion of her right 
of property. On those same dignitaries that 
flouted her wifely claims, He hurled His indig- 
nant rebuke for taking advantage of her weak- 
ness and lack of protection, to " devour widows' 
houses "/ thus making less account of men who 
might suffer similar wrong, because the women 
were more exposed to their heartless rapacity, 
and were the most easy prey of their greed and 
oppression. 

In His own social relations with women, we 
find Him evincing for her the highest respect, 
the warmest regard, the tenderest sympathy ; 
making her society His delight, admitting her to 
His yearning human love, His most familiar 
friendship. His most intimate confidence ; calling 
forth her boundless confidence and love in re- 
turn. See the reciprocal regard and affection in 
the case of the woman who "washed His feet 
with her tears and mped them with the hairs of 
her head, and did not cease to kiss His feet" 
while the ablution went on. " She loved much," 
as Jesus declared, and received His love and 
honor in return. See it in that Mary who with 
the costly ointment of spikenard anointed His 
feet, and, like the other, wiped them with the 
hairs of her head, while He declared — " She hath 
done what she could, and verily wheresoever this 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 177 

Gospel shall be preached throughout the world, 
this also that she hath done shall be spoken of as 
a memorial of her." See it in that cottage at 
Bethany where there are three united and loving 
souls, of whom Mary and Martha are two and 
Jesus is the third ; a triple alliance of hearts 
such as was never before beheld : Mary sitting 
at His feet, receiving the " gracious words " that 
fell from His lips, while Martha is busy prepar- 
ing the repast for their adored and beloved 
Guest. See it in the deliverance He wrought 
for the Magdalen, and in her fidelity and devo- 
tion to Him in His agony at the cross, and in her 
watching at the sepulchre of her dead and dear- 
est Friend. See it in the Son's love of His 
Mother as, amid the tortures of the crucifixion. 
He commended her to the care of the " Beloved 
Disciple " to be cherished by him as if she were 
his own mother, and he were her son. 

Could such a Man as Jesus, who defended 
woman against her oppressors, who held her 
through life a confidential companion, and who 
made her His chief concern in the last moments 
of His agony and dissolution, give to her an 
inferior place in the Society that He founded ? 
This were impossible. Recognizing the unity of 
Human IN'ature, planting His cause in that unity, 
the social state that it was His to build up, 
including both man and woman, must also be a 
unity under its Law of Love, involving absolute 
equality in all things among all its members. 

In the eye of that Law there is " neither male 
8* 



178 ECCE VERITAS. 

nor female, but all are Ot^e in Christ Jesus," as 
is affirmed by Paul under the Master's con- 
structive Principle and the actual fact of the 
spiritual and social status of the members of the 
Divine Commonwealth as Christ established it. 
In His prayer to the Father in behalf of His 
whole family of disciples, He said, — "Sanctify 
them through the Truth, that they all may be 
Oi^E, even as We are One." And in this unity 
between the Christ and the Father, Jesus 
"thought it not robbery to be equal with God"; 
for it involved a common law of character and 
action, a common concernment in the interests 
of the Heavenly Kingdom, and a common invest- 
ment of powers for its consummation, and it was 
in these things that the equality consisted. 

N'ow, as the unity of the subjects of the Demo- 
cratic Kingdom is the same as the unity of the 
Father and Son, the same law of equality must 
prevail among them. It is, of necessity, in- 
volved. As, therefore, " Whatsoever things the 
Father doeth, these also doeth the Son," as He 
affirms; so also whatsoever things one member 
of the kingdom doeth by right and as needful 
for its interests, those things every other mem- 
ber may do by the same right, whether male or 
female ; indeed, where such things are concerned, 
the idea of sex is excluded altogether. " There 
is neither male nor female, but all are one.^'' 

The Society that Christ founded grasped His 
principle, caught His spirit, and its men and 
" noble women not a few," launched themselves 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 179 

bravely into tlie work of establisliing the Divine 
Democracy ; where the Law of God's Kingdom 
and the Law of the Democracy ; where the mem- 
bers of God's Kingdom and the members of the 
Democracy, are in each case the same, — where 
there is but One Law-giver, the Loed ; one law, 
the Law of Love ; one faith, the Absolute Truth ; 
one baptism, the Baptism of the Spirit ; and 
where all are brethren, and the " Chief est the 
Servant of all." 

The women of the Primitive Church were both 
officers and teachers on equal footing with the 
men. Women were even sometimes the in- 
structors of men in the more perfect knowledge 
of the Gospel. The Theological School in which 
the eloquent Apollos graduated was composed 
of both Aquila and Peiscilla ; and so one of 
the Professors was a womai^. The Apostle to 
the Gentiles, baptized into the Spirit of the 
Master, cries out — "Help those women that 
labored with me in the Gospel." Bids the Ro- 
man Church to " receive Phebe, a servant of the 
Church of Cenchrea, and to assist her in whatso- 
ever business she may have need of assistance." 
Bids them to " greet Priscilla and Aquila, my 
helpers in Christ Jesus." To " greet Mary, who 
bestowed much labor upon us." To " greet Trt- 
PHEiq" A, who labored in the Lord." No wonder 
that he who had rung the keynote of the Frater- 
nity — " There is neither male nor female, but all 
are one in Christ Jesus " — should so honor woman, 
so welcome her as a co -laborer, both in the 



180 ECCE VERITAS. 

teaching and business of the Church, and so 
rejoice in her exaltation and her work. 

But the practical opponents of woman's equal- 
ity with man in the Church, will tell you this 
same Paul taught the subjection of women, and 
quote his words, " Let the women learn in silence 
with all subjection." "I suffer not a woman to 
teach, nor usurp authority over the man." " Let 
your women keep silent in the Churches, for it 
is not permitted unto them to speak; and if 
they will iearn anything, let them ask their 
husbands at home." Well, do these divines, in 
these quotations, propose to set Paul against 
Paul, and against the LaAv of Christ's kingdom 
that he rung so loud and so long ? 

ISTow, though Paul was somewhat too much an 
advocate of custom, and probably also too much 
influenced by his old bachelor tastes, he was not 
a man to stultify himself before the whole Chris- 
tian, Jewish, and Heathen world by teaching 
and practicing absolutely contrary doctrines. 
But if such a case were made out, we should 
deny his authority, and stick to Cheist and His 
Law, 2i^ paramount ; nor abate one jot of our 
claim for woman even if all the Apostles were 
against us. Christ and His PpwH^ciple alone are 
Supreme. But we have no idea that Paul or any 
other of the Evangelists and Teachers in the 
Early Church, differed in anything essential on 
this subject from Christ Himself. To reconcile 
these statements of the Apostle with his principle 
and practice on the woman question, we offer the 
following explanation. 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 181 

These instructions concerning women " keep- 
ing silence," " not to teach, nor usurp authority," 
and " if they would learn anything, to ask their 
husbands at home," must refer to some local and 
exceptional practices which the Apostle thought 
it his duty, if possible, to correct. They doubt- 
less refer to the kind of speaking that prevailed, 
at times, in Jewish Synagogues, where men fell 
into disputations, asking and answering ques- 
tions, even contending and contradicting, till the 
meeting became boisterous and a scene of con- 
fusion. In Jewish meetings women were not 
allowed to speak at all, but, according to the 
Rabbins, "a woman should know nothing but 
the use of her distaff." But in the Christian 
assemblies there was equal freedom for men and 
women. The orderly speaking and teaching in 
which both men and women engaged, it would 
seem, sometimes degenerated into the disputa- 
tions and confusion of the Jewish meetings. 
Paul, as a matter of taste, and perhaps not 
wholly free from his Jewdsh prejudices in mat- 
ters of this kind, deemed it out of character for 
women to mix in this controversial harangue, 
and so interposed his disapproval in the terms 
of these quotations. In any case, we are with 
Paul /or the woman, and not with him against 
her, if that were possible, when he asserts, they, 
both men and women, " are one in Cheist Jesus." 
The power and glory of Christ's teaching, and 
its triumph in the Divine Democracy, in which 
all rights for all^ mthout distinction of sex, is 



18^ ECCE VERITAS. 

its Law and tlie Crown of its Heavenly character, 
are to us, now and f orevermore, the Supreme and 
final Authority. 

Says Mr. Renan in his "The Apostles," — "Jesus 
had often said that He was more than father and 
mother, and that those who followed Him must 
forsake those beloved beings. Christianity placed 
some things above the family. It created a fra- 
ternity and spiritual marriages. The ancient 
system of marriages, which without restriction 
placed the wife in the power of the husband, was 
mere slavery. The moral liberty of woman be- 
gan when the Church gave her in Jesus a friend 
and a guide., who advised and consoled her, 
always listened to her grievances, and some- 
times advised resistance. " " Woman never had a 
religious conscience, a moral individuality, or an 
opinion of her own, previous to Christianity." 

Involved also in this divine principle of unity 
and equality, is woman's enfranchisement. In 
all the governments of the world in all ages, 
woman has been held in subjection, her political 
rights denied her. Enfranchisement being a 
right of human nature, unless it can be shown 
that she does not partake of that nature, which 
none in these days will dare to affirm, her right 
to full and perfect self-government, on the same 
terms \vith man, follows with irresistible ne- 
cessity. 

Christ's Democratic Society, which demands 
to be accepted and made practical, places the 
whole Fraternity, which knows no sex, on the 



THE DIVINE DEMOCRACY OF CHRIST. 183 

lofty ground of a redeemed and glorified Human- 
ity, invested with all the rights, immunities, and 
privileges of its possibilities, with Christ, its 
most perfect Embodiment, as its Head. In this 
relation to His people He lives and reigns in 
their midst, and "not ashamed to call them 
brethren," rejoicing to behold the fruits of His 
Teaching in their Unity and Love. 

Gro forward. Divine Regenerator of the Race ! 
destroying oppression, avarice, and every form of 
selfishness, till " every tongue shall confess, — In 
the Lord have I righteousness," — Freedom, Equal- 
ity, and the fullness of all Human Possibility. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The same Law of Character must control in 
both. God and Man, since man is made in the 
Image of God. A being, as he is, with like 
nature and attributes, differing only in degree, 
the Law of Rectitude must be one for both, so 
that they may be brought together under that 
Law and there be, ultimately, no slightest jar or 
dissonance. Souls thus at one with God while 
raised to the highest degree of activity as they 
move in harmony with the All-controlling Will, 
end their struggle with law and are henceforth 
unconscious of toil or weariness, realizing the seem- 
ingly paradoxical fact of perfect repose in perfect 
action ; moving like the orbs beneath the control 
of God- s great centrifugal and centripetal forces. 
And as the whole Universe is a grand Unity 
beneath the control of those forces, so God's 
Spiritual Realm is a Unity beneath His all- 
binding and all-moving Will, with which all 
spiritualized souls are brought into concord 
through the sanctifying and harmonizing Prin- 
ciple of Truth, or Law of Rectitude. This the 
Teachings of Cheist unfold. 

(184) 



CHRIST'S DISTINCTION OF CHARACTEK. 185 

But He not only shows us the Principle at the 
Base of character, but makes clear the law by 
which the Principle works — the order and con- 
ditions of its action. It does not work arbitra- 
rily, nor independently of the action of the 
human soul. 'Not as physical force on uncon- 
scious bodies. If it did so act, this were to 
destroy the personal will — the highest attribute 
of spirit, — and abolish the spiritual realm alto- 
gether, merging all in one physical system gov- 
erned solely by Absolute Power. In the spiritual 
sphere powers and principles work upon souls 
endowed with personality, whereof the self -deter- 
mining faculty is the crowning attribute, lying 
at the foundation of responsibility and character. 
Hence the Truth that works the sanctification of 
the soul, must enter in through the will — must 
be made ours by Choice, and consequently is 
not a product of natural birth. ISTor is the soul 
born with a principle of depravity. This were 
as impossible as the other ; as no soul can be de- 
praved but by its own vicious choice. So the 
soul's personal responsible nature, and the nature 
of moral principles relating thereto, must ex- 
clude both original good and evil. As we have 
said elsewhere, we are introduced into the world 
under animal laws, and governed at first, solely 
by instinct, like other animals. Though pos- 
sessed of natures with spiritual attributes, their 
functions, in the babe, are latent without present 
immediate possibility of action. With growth 
the spiritual powers are to be unfolded and 



186 :ECGI: VERITAS. 

brought into exercise ; and as they are used, so is 
onr character. Constructively we are in God's 
image. The next step is to become so conform- 
ably by responding to the Divine Law which 
asserts its authority within us through the Eter- 
nal Spiritual Principles that are revealed to the 
consciousness, conscience, and reason. Kevealed 
there, their authority cannot but be felt ; the 
conscience must respond to their just claim, and 
the responsible soul must approve. So far Truth 
acts independently. It is the " Spirit of Truth" 
" convincing the world of sin, of righteousness, 
and of judgment," as Christ tells us in His last 
conversation with His disciples, recorded in the 
16th of John. But this conviction of sin and 
apprehension of the Truth, works no change in 
the soul till the Truth is made our ovm by choice. 
Till then we remain under the dominion of the 
sensuous ; are of the flesh, fleshly. And as this 
fleshly life is the result of rejecting the Right 
and choosing the Wrong, depravity begins with 
the first rejection, and will be total only when 
the last persuasive to righteousness — if such a 
point can be reached— ceases to have any power. 
The unfolding soul, from its very nature, must 
choose something, and not choosing Truth, it 
chooses Evil ; not being governed by love, it is 
controlled by selfishness ; which is the disturb- 
ing force of the responsible world. Love de- 
stroys it and so furnishes the foundation of 
Eternal Order. 
The case, as here set forth, constitutes the 



CHBIST'S DISTINCTION OF CHARACTER, 187 

primal fact of our being. Clirist announced it 
thus : " That wMch is born of the flesh, is Flesh." 
This is the first birth, our introduction into the 
visible and sensuous world. " That which is 
born of the Spirit, is Spirit." This is after- 
ward, and is the Second birth. Hence He said : 
" Te must he Boee" Agaiit." It is no figure of 
speech. The necessity is absolute ; and the 
second birth is as real as the first ; nay, more so, 
as it is a generation by Eternal Principles^ — ^the 
Birth of Births. As in the first birth the 
child is introduced into the sensuous world, and 
is only occupied with sensible things ; so in the 
second, the soul is introduced into the sphere of 
spiritual realities, and is occupied with them ; 
dwells in the midst of them ; sees, appropriates 
them, and they become the life of his life. It is 
at once a new experience, a new world, and a 
new life — all the characteristics of a birth. 
" Marvel not at this," said the Wonderful Teacher 
to Mcodemus. Why should he marvel at a 
thing so necessary? so in accordance with the 
nature of the soul and the nature of those prin- 
ciples that relate to it, but from which it is 
separated in its first birth, by the conditions 
under which it is introduced to the light of day ? 
" How can these things be 1 " said the Doctor of 
the Law. And the reply was — "Art thou a 
Master in Israel and knowest not these things ? " 
" Yerily, we speak that we do Tcnow, and testify 
that we have seen^ A wonder, indeed! But 
Nicodemus is not alone in this ignorance. 



188 ECCE VERITAS. 

" Flesh and blood " revealeth not such, things ; 
they are "spiritually discerned." And Theolo- 
gians here, as in other of Christ's words, have 
perverted, mystified, or misrepresented His 
teaching as to this simple, philosophical Fact. 
They have removed the second birth from the 
sphere of philosophy and reason, from being a 
matter in the order of existence, wrought by the 
operation of law, to the realm of mystery ; mak- 
ing it the result of belief in dogma, the purchase 
of imputed righteousness ; as if one could be 
born for another ; as if the human reason and 
will, leading all the powers and functions of the 
soul into consentaneous action, were not ade- 
quate to the work for which they were given. 

Now by what process of the soul's powers do 
we come into this Birth of the Spirit ? into this 
new spiritual life under the control of the Truth ? 
ISTot by some miraculous power, nor special 
grace ; not by the special belief of the doctrinal 
dogma of substitutional sacrifice for sin, and 
imputed righteousness ; — a process that de- 
thrones Reason, abolishes the laws of Order, 
sets God in Grace against God in Nature, and 
limits salvation to those only who are so situated 
as to be reached and made acquainted with this 
dogmatic method, and even they must fail for 
not comprehending it. God's method is such 
that, where there is a Human Soul the powers 
and possibilities of Regeneration are present 
with it. God is manifest in the " Spirit of 
Truth " that " convinceth of sin, of righteousness, 



CHRIST'S DISTINCTION OF CHARACTER. 189 

and of judgment," and which is ever and every- 
where moving on souls with its convincement, 
addressing every man's conscience, challenging 
his reason, summoning his will, and bidding him 
Choose and Live. The possession of these attri- 
butes with such D wine persuasion are adequate 
for the work to which we are summoned, and 
constitute, at once, the ground of obligation and 
possibility. "Why do ye not of your own 
selves," says Christ, "judge what is right?" 
" Ye shall know the Truth ; and the Truth 
SHALL Make you Feee" — free from the do- 
minion of the "flesh"; free in the sovereignty 
of choice^ whereby all the powers of the soul are 
brought to act in concert with the Law of Recti- 
tude in which alone true freedom consists. 

But, according to Christ's teachings. Faith is 
involved as essential. In the very nature of the 
case it must be involved and indispensable. He 
was too profound a Teacher, too honest, too earn- 
est, and too clear-seeing to make an arbitrary 
requirement. But what is Faith % With Christ 
Faith is a very dijfferent affair from that of the 
Theologians. We have had occasion to refer to 
this matter before, and shall repeat, with still 
more precision, what we have there said, in this 
its more appropriate place. With Christ Faith 
is the receimng of the Truth, — no trusting to 
authority, no belief in mere doctrine. Christ, as 
we are constantly under the necessity of saying, 
dealt wholly with Principles — Principles that 
the Reason must recognize, the Will must ac- 



190 ECCE VERITAS. 

cept, and the whole Soul must appropriate. 
These Principles constitute the very substance 
of the Divine Nature. In them He manifested 
Himself in the Soul and through them asserts 
His authority there. To welcome these, there- 
fore, is to bow to His authority. So the Great 
Teacher says, " He that is of God TiearetJi God's 
Wo EDS." God's words are His Principles, 
which, comprehensively, are the Truth. Hence, 
again, Christ says, " This is eternal life to know 
Thee, the Only True God "; which is the same 
as to know the Truth, according to the word of 
Christ already quoted — "Ye shall know the 
truth, and the Truth shall make you free." So 
to know the Truth is to know God ; and to 
know God is to know the Truth ; and to " hear 
God's words " is to be " of God "; and this hear- 
ing and welcoming, appropriating God's words 
whereby we know Him, is the Saving Faith, 
according to Christ's teaching. To this agrees 
Paul's delinition of faith in the Hebrews, Chapter 
xi. 1, " ISTow faith is the substance of things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." 
The things with which faith is occupied, accord- 
ing to this definition, are things not seen : Things 
with which the senses have nothing to do. They 
lie within the spiritual, invisible realm. Hence 
they are spiritual things — the Eternal Principles 
that are to be reached by the reason and re- 
vealed in the consciousness. Now ^^faitJi,^^ says 
Paul, "is the substance of these things." The 
XnoGtaGi? of the Greek, and the substantia of 



CHRISrS DISTINCTION OF CHARACTER. 191 

the Latin, rendered substance in tlie text, signify 
tliat wMcli \^ placed under as a basis ov founda- 
tion. Says Mr. Locke, " The idea to which we 
give the name of substance, being nothing but 
the supposed but unknown support of those 
qualities we find existing, which we imagine 
cannot subsist without something to support 
them, we call that support substantia ; which, 
according to the true import of the word, is, in 
plain English, standing under, or upholding, ^'^ 
^o faith, in the active sense, is the putting one^s 
self under those invisible things, those spiritual 
principles, so that their weight rests upon the 
soul and their power is felt and experienced 
there. The reason apprehends them, the will 
appropriates them, and so they live, as realities, 
in our consciousness and are wrought into our 
character. And "faith," says the Apostle, is 
" the evidence," or proof, " of the things " — the 
Eternal Principles — because, by placing ourselves 
under their power and bringing them into our 
experience, we see them and linow them to be 
what they are — vital, immutable, eternal realities. 
They are thus as certain to the mind as a mathe- 
matical truth. So the Apostle says, in the same 
connection, " By faith we understand. " It gives 
absolute knowledge. This is quite different from 
the theological idea that faith begins where 
knowledge ends ; that we believe where we have 
no certain foundation on which the reason may 
rest. On the contrary, faith begins our Spirit- 
ual knowledge. 



192 ECCE VERITAS. 

JSTow, as these invisible principles, thus re- 
vealed and made onr own, are the soul's life as 
they are the life of God ; and as they cannot be 
made onr own but by choosing them, putting 
ourselves under their authority and control, — in 
other words, except by faith.) it follows, of ne- 
cessity, "He that believeth shall be saved." Is 
not all this certainly and philosophically so ? 

But Christ speaks of believing in Him as a 
necessary condition of entering into the spiritual 
state — the birth of the Spirit. He says broadly 
and plainly enough, you will tell us, " He that 
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and 
he that believeth not the Soisr shall not see life." 
This is to be admitted ; and, so far as we are 
concerned, is gratefully welcomed. There is no 
disagreement in this with the view already taken. 
We have seen that to make choice of the Truth, 
to welcome the invisible and eternal principles, 
is to have faith in God. Faith in the same prin- 
ciples, in the same way, is also faith in Christ. 
In no other sense did He affirm faith in Himself 
to be essential. He ever offered Himself to the 
confidence and trust of men, as the embodied 
Truth, as the Representative of the Eternal 
Principles of the Father ; and so He said, " He 
that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me." 
And this receiving Him as the embodied Truth, 
is that faith in Him without which fchere is no 
" everlasting life "; for it is " through the Truth 
that we are sanctifiedP 

This will appear more fully by a little further 



CHBIST'S DISTINCTION OF CHARACTER. 193 

elucidation. Christ represented tlie Father on 
the one hand, and Hnmanity on the other. So 
perfectly did He show the Father, that He could 
say, "I and My Father are one.''^ So perfectly 
did He represent the Human Eace, that He could 
say, " Inasmuch as ye did or did it not to one of 
the least of these My brethren, yet did or did it 
not to Me." And the doing or not doing the 
deeds of Humanity — justice, love, and mercy — 
was the ground of justification or condemnation, 
where He had personally not been known or 
recognized, the same as where He had ; thus 
showing that believing in Him, was the receiving 
those principles of justice, love, and mercy, 
which stood for Himself. So, in the declara- 
tion, '' He that believeth in Me hath everlasting 
life," the Me is the " Teuth "—the Embodied 
Peinciples of the Divine Chaeactee ; and thus, 
the believing in Him, the receiving of Him, is in- 
evitably involved and essential in entering into 
the New Bieth. 

Who, then, will attempt to convict Him of ar- 
rogance, self-seeking, personal authority, and 
hold Him up as an Usurper over the souls of 
men, because by a Koyal Humanity, absolutely 
perfect. He becomes the Kiis^g of men, and, by 
the " Spieit of Teuth," " the true Light that 
lighteth every man that cometh into the world," 
2ivA present in that Spieit in the birth of every 
Regenerated Soul? Thus, all technical beliefs, 
personal claims, and special ways of salvation 
are excluded ; and Jesus becomes the Universal 
9 



194 ECCE VERITAS. 

Teacher and Savioe as tlie Emhodwient of 
the SAYING TRUTH; and tliiis "The Oj^-ly 
Name under Heaven given among men whereby 
we mnst be saved " (Acts iv. 12). 

This birth of the "Spirit of Truth," which 
ta,kes place " in every nation where one f eareth 
God and worketh righteousness," is Christ's 
Distinction of QJiaracter. They that are " Born 
of God," are the " children-of God," the " right- 
eous," the "good," the "just"; while they that 
are " born of the flesh " and remain under the 
dominion of the flesh, are "children of evil," the 
"wicked," the "bad," the "unjust." The dis- 
tinction is radical. It is not one of degree, as if 
the two classes mixed and run together ; although 
there are degrees in each class among its own 
members. Some of the good are better than 
others ; and some of the wicked are worse than 
others ; but \h.Q principle that separates the two 
classes, remains, till the reason, the conscience, 
and the will — the spiritual powers of the soul — 
are placed in ascendency over the flesh, and so 
the fleshly pass into the class of those who are 
" born of the Spirit," and thus become the chil- 
dren of God. This, also, as all Christ's essential 
things are, is a philosophical necessity. " The 
fleshly man discerneth not the things of the 
Spirit ; for they are foolishness unto him ; neither 
can he know them, because they are spiritually 
discerned." But " the Spirit searcheth all things, 
yea, the deep things of God." "For the carnal 
mind is enmity against God ; is not subject to 



CHRIST'S DISTINCTION OF CHARACTER. 195 

the law of God, neither indeed can be." "So 
then they that are in the FlesTi cannot please 
Grod." So affirms a well-instructed Apostle in 
these things ; and so illustrates the emphatic 
words of the Master — " Ye must he Boeos" Agaiist " 
— The spiritual powers of the soul must be put 
in the ascendency over the Jleslily, in sovereign 
control of the man. So, and not otherwise, do 
we come into possession of the character of 
Cheist and of GrOD, through the Regenerating 
" Spieit of Teuth." 



CHAPTER X. 

EVERLASTING LIFE AS TAUGHT BY CHEIST. 

Paul says ; — " God only hath Immortality." 
This is a necessary truth. Possessing infinite 
attributes, being a perfect Unity, and existing, 
therefore, in harmony with the laws of His own 
being. He is superior to and, consequently, be- 
yond the reach of the Forces of Destruction, 
which, in their nature, must be finite. Having 
been from Eternity, He also must Forever En- 
dure. Originally, and by virtue of His own 
J^ature, He is deathless. Hence, the Immortality 
of every other being must be derived from Him ; 
for He only, as just said, is immortal in His own 
JSTature. 

But "God is a Spirit." To spirit appertains 
consciousness, the moral sense, the reasoning 
faculty, and self-determining will. These imply 
intelligence and power. All these exist in the 
God- Spirit, with other incommunicable attri- 
butes, in an infinite degree ; and as it is the 
harmony of all these with one another, and with 
their underlying law that constitutes the Unity 
of God and thus necessitates His indestructibility, 
therefore immortality can only be predicated of 
(196; 



EVERLASTING LIFE. 197 

a spiritual and moral natnre — of God and such 
as are in the Image of God, as being spirit, like 
Him, and, like Him, having the attributes of 
spirit in harmony, and so obedient to the law of 
its being, whereby it also becomes a unity — a 
perfect soul reposing in its true and normal 
state ; which, as said, is essential to immortality. 
God lives, we may say, because He is eternally 
At One with Himself. Were it possible for 
Him to violate His own Unity, to break with 
Rectitude, which is the Law of His being, as it is 
that of every loyal spirit, and thus come into 
conflict with Himself, He would fall within the 
sweep and beneath the Forces of Destruction". 
But this is impossible. " He changes not." " Is 
without variableness or shadow of turning." 
" The same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 

To be immortal, then, we must be in the like- 
ness of God, possessing not only a spiritual 
nature, but having the attributes of that nature 
in agreement witli Rectitude, as the law of its 
being. Our likeness to God is thus twofold — 
spirit and conformity to rectitude, or holiness. 
But they are derived under different laws ; each 
having a law according to its own nature. The 
first we derive by the law of generation in the 
order of Nature. The other, as we have seen in 
the last chapter, by the second birth — the birth 
of the " Spirit of Truth." This latter, as we have 
before shown, lies outside of the law of natural 
generation. The Truth which liberates the soul 
from the dominion of the flesh, and makes it 



198 ECCE VERITAS. 

free in its new spiritual life, is to be appropriated 
by the consentaneous action of the soul's powers 
in choosing it, as we have, more than once, had 
occasion to state. In the first birth, we derive a 
spirit with its naked attributes. In the second, 
spiritual principles, and the life of God which 
they, of necessity, carry with them. This life of 
God, derived from the vital connection of the 
soul, in the birth of the Spirit, with the " Liviis-a 
Father," is the germ of Immoetality. 

What we have here endeavored to make plain 
by reasoning, Christ, without reasoning, sees 
clearly ; sees both the principle and law thereof, 
and seizes that principle and law as the true 
foundation of "Everlasting Life." We quote 
a few of the many significant passages on this 
subject. Here is one that may well lead the 
rest. " This is eternal life to know Thee, the 
Only True God." To know God is to partake 
of His divine moral nature of Truth and Love, 
whereby we are assimilated to Him, enter into 
vital communion with Him, the only source of 
Eternal Life, and so secure a flow of that life 
into the submissive and confiding soul. 

Again Christ says : " As the Father hath life 
in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have 
life in Himself." "The Father hath given Me 
commandment ; and I know that His command- 
ment is life everlasting.^^ That is : the doing of 
His commandment, conforming to His will 
through obedience to the sanctifying Truth. 
Again: "As the Father hath life in Himself, 



EVERLASTING LIFE. 199 

and I live by the Father, so he that eatetli Me 
shall live by Me." He partook of the principles 
of the Father's Nature, and, thus, of the life that 
is inseparable from those principles ; and to eat 
Him, being to partake of the principles which 
He embodied, the partaker lives by Him ; that 
is, by the same principles through which He de- 
rived His own life. This illustrates and explains 
all those texts where He refers to Himself in 
relation to this question of everlasting life ; as in 
the following: "He that believeth on the Son 
hath life ; and he that believeth not the Son 
shall not see life." "I give them eternal life, 
and they shall never perish." " Ye will not 
come to Me that ye might have life "; and so in 
other passages. They all go to illustrate Christ's 
doctrine of Life by a vital union of the soul with 
the " LiYiNa Fathee," through the birth of the 
Spirit, whereby intercommunion is established, 
which, as a divine Umbilicus, becomes the me- 
dium of the life of God to His spiritually begot- 
ten child. And Christ, as " Grod manifested in 
\h.e flesh" — the Representative of the Father 
and Partaker of His Life, puts Himself in the 
case on the ground that, as He says, " I and My 
Father are one " and " He that receiveth Me re- 
ceiveth Him that sent Me." God, the Father, 
who hath Life in Himself, is, in every case, the 
ultimate and only source of Eternal Life. Christ's 
authority and power, and life-giving force were 
of the Eternal Principle of Righteousness that 
He inculcated and made His own, whereby He 



200 ECCE VERITAS. 

became One with the " Living Father," and so 
was able to manifest Him, and communicate His 
vital forces. The author of the Fourth Gospel, 
who seems, especially, to have seen the philos- 
ophy of this, has this remarkable statement: 
" The life was manifested, and we have seen it, 
and bear witness, and do show unto yon that 
Eternal Life^ which was in the Fathee, and 
was manifested (in Christ) unto us." Christ, 
therefore, as "God manifest in tlie flesTi^^ arro- 
gates nothing when He says : "As I live by the 
Father, He that eateth Me shall live by Me"; 
since it is the same spiritual element in both 
that is received. So, in fact, in whatever way 
the Truth is received, it is, in every case, receiv- 
ing the Father, and, as one expresses it, is 
"partaking of the Divhste IS'ature," which is 
vital with Etert^al Life. It is, therefore, 
axiomatic, that "He that belie veth on the Son 
hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not 
the Son shall not see life," as, to thus believe, is 
to receive the Father, of whom Christ is the 
Representative, embodying His LiFE-Giviis^a 
Nature. 

The sequence, then, is this : God is an Infinite 
Spirit with a Moral l^fature, who by virtue of His 
Unity, as in eternal harmony with Rectitude, is 
Self -Existent and therefore Immortal. 

The Immortality of all other beings must be 
derived from Him, and can only be predicated 
of those who are begotten in His Moral Image 
by the regenerating powder of the "Spirit of 



EVERLASTING LIFE. 201 

Truth," and so made "partakers of the Divine 
Nature." 

While by natural generation man is brought 
into the world with a nature of spiritual at- 
tributes, among which are perception, conscious- 
ness, conscience, reason, and will, which relate to 
spiritual principles, from the nature of those at- 
tributes and the nature of those principles to 
which they relate, the principles are not derived 
from natural birth, but must be the subject of 
CHOICE in the exercise of the Active Faculty. 
Hence 

A Corollary from the foregoing is : Souls who 
incorrigibly 2C^^ finally reject the Truth, which 
alone can make them the spiritual offspring of 
God, and put them in vital communion with Him 
as the source of Eternal Life, are not and cannot 
be immortal ; but being in conflict with them- 
selves and the laws of being, are outside of the 
sphere of the immutable and imperishable, and, 
therefore, cannot Endure. 

This also is the teaching of Christ. His state- 
ment is that the incorrigible perish. That word, 
or its synonyme, is the one He employs as the 
antithesis of life which He so invariably uses to 
mark the condition and destiny of the righteous. 
A few passages will suffice to show this. " God 
so loved the world that He gave His only be- 
gotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him 
should not perish, but have everlasting Z^/d." 
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise ^e?"/,^^." 
The word in the Greek, in these texts, is anoXvrai 



202 ECCE VERITAS. 

and ajtoXvaOe from anoXkvoo^ to destroy, to Mil, to 
put to death. In the following tlie word ren- 
dered destroy i^ from the same root : " Fear Him 
who is able to destroy both soul and body in 
hell" — in glieJienna, Tiades, the realm of the 
dead. " Wide is the gate and broad is the way, 
that leadeth to destruction, and many there be 
that go in thereat." "These shall go away into 
everlasting punishment ; but the righteous into 
life eternal.'''' Here the punishment is put in 
oppositioD to life and, therefore, must be death. 
It is everlasting because there is no recovery of 
being. Hence that startling inquiry, "What 
shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul f " Here the word 
rendered soul, is '^vxi], the principle of life — ^the 
life that pertains to the spirit; agreeable to the 
idea in the text, "Who is able to destroy the soul 
in hell " — the word being '^vxr/ in both places ; 
as also in the following, where it is rendered life 
— "Whosoever shall save his life" — soul,^^'^^, 
— " shall lose it ; and whosoever shall lose his life 
for My sake, shall save it." The meaning is — 
He that shall save his present life by refusing 
allegiance to the Truth that I represent, shall 
lose the life of the soul — the everlasting life, 
which obedience secures. While he who loses 
his present life in martyrdom for the Truth, shall 
save it to everlasting duration. Such is the con- 
trast of both character and destiny, between the 
righteous and the wicked ; between those " born 
of the Spirit," and those "bom of the flesh." 



EVERLASTING LIFE. 203 

The one by virtue of their connection with the 
'' Living Father " " have everlasting life " ; while 
the others, being subject to the dominion of the 
flesh, fail of its realization, when the point of 
incorrigibility is reached. But when and where 
this may be, we do not pretend to say. 

We have not quoted the words of Christ to 
prove the doctrine ; but it being involved in the 
Principle that is the ground of immortality, which 
He saw so clearly, we bring forward His sayings 
to show how logically and philosophically con- 
sistent He is with His fundamental idea of life 
only in the Father. He never loses sight of 
His Principle, nor of the law of the case ; never 
contradicts Himself, and never obscures His 
meaning with uncertain or ambiguous phrase. 
The question of human welfare with Him w^as 
ever a question of Life or Death, in the highest 
significance of their meaning. With Him Truth 
and Right were — Life ; Sin and Wrong — Death. 
He saw the incorrigible doomed, not to the fiery 
fate of everlasting burnings, but to the loss of 
that life which they had abused ; on the prin- 
ciple that " He that hath not (for the purpose for 
which it is given), from him shall be taken 
away even that which he hath." How can a 
soul, dwelling in the sphere of the sensual, the 
victim of appetites and passions, of pride and 
selfishness, building his being solely on the 
perisJiahle, disconnected with all-enduring prin- 
ciples, and having no vital connection with the 
Living and Liee- Giving God, be immortal ? It 
is a natural and necessary impossibility. 



204 ECCE VERITAS. 

Immortality, with, him who possesses it, is a 
matter of consciousness. " We speak that we 
do Tcnow,'^ says Christ ; and herein He utters the 
experience of every righteous soul. Paul also 
declares the same experience when he says, " We 
have received not the spirit of the world, but the 
Spirit which is of God ; that we might Jcnow the 
tilings that are freely given us of God." In 
proportion as our moral condition becomes ex- 
alted ; as we approach Christ's plane of experience 
and thought, we more and more see the Truth as 
He saw it, become conscious as He was con- 
scious of the indwelling principle of Life Ever- 
lasting. The whole spiritual realm opens to our 
vision on this high plane, and we see all in the 
clear light that floods the consciousness of the 
soul. But the " spirit of the world " makes no 
such revelation. The fleshly, the corrupt flounder 
in bewilderment, and are shut out, by the moral 
night that shrouds their being, from the sphere 
of spiritual realities. They do not occupy the 
plane where such things come to the view. So 
they have not, and cannot have any conscious- 
ness of immortality ; and they cannot have that 
of which they have no consciousness. 

Philosophers have not been altogether without 
some light respecting the princiiole that gives 
immortality only to the good. Pythagoras 
taught that the ground of the soul's true life 
in the future world, is its moral state ; that its 
fate hereafter depended on its moral conditions. 
If it had done well in this life, death introduced 



EVERLASTING LIFE. 205 

it to a higher, perpetual being as its proper self. 
If, however, in the conflict of Right with Wrong, 
it had taken sides with wrong, become the slave 
of passion, it descended into the shape and state 
of grovelling creatures. Though his non-immor- 
tality is metempsychosis, it is, substantially, the 
same as that here insisted on, as the personality 
of the transmigrated soul is merged and lost in 
another and lower form of existence. 

Spinoza reached a similar conclusion by his 
doctrine of Ideas. With him, those who live 
under the dominion of the sensual ; whose ideas 
are only of sensuous things in which they live, 
fail of their true destiny. Death shatters their 
personal being as it dissolves and whelms the 
world in which they lived. Metempsychosis and 
what may be a modification of it by Spinoza, is 
but a vain speculation, capable of no demonstra- 
tion ; while the teaching of Christ on this sub- 
ject, agreeing with reason, the soundest philos- 
ophy, and sustained by invincible logic, is — that 
the finally Iistcoeeigible Peeish — are resolved 
back into their original non-existent state, and 
are no more. The partakers of the Dimne 
Nature alone Live on, and Forever. The whole 
matter of this vital truth is condensed into this 
declaration of JESUS to Maey of Bethany — " I 
am the Resueeectio:n' and the LIFE : he that 
believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall 
he Live : and whosoever liveth and believeth in 
Me, shall nearer DIE." The good and 
true, the lovers of Virtue have a consciousness 



206 ECCE VERITAS. 

of immortality, and ask no glory of transient 
praise, but only the reward to Live On. Tei^ny- 
soN expresses the sentiment in the following 
lines : — 

" Griory of warrior, glory of orator, glory of song, 

Paid with a voice that will pass, to be lost in an endless 



Glory of virtue, to fight, to struggle, to right the wrong — 
Nay, hut she aimed not at glory, no lover of glory she : 
Give her the glory of going on, and still to he. 

"The wages of sin is death: if the wages of virtue be 

dust, 
Would she have heart to endure for the life of the worm 

and the fly ? 
She desires no isles of the blest, no quiet seats of the just, 
To rest in a golden grove, or to bask in a summer sky : 
Give her the wages of going on, and not to die.'''' 

We add a paragraph or two, as seems fitting 
in this place, on the subject of Probation beyond 
the present life. We do not say that evil souls 
will not endure beyond the period of death of the 
body. If the facts of Spiriti:v^lism are true — and 
there is no reasonable ground to dispute them — 
then their continued existence is demonstrated. 
But this is not because their souls are immortal. 
An age, or ages of life is not Immortality. Life 
Everlasting, as we have seen, is conditioned on 
the reception of Christ as the embodiment of 
Eternal Principles. The continuance of the 
existence of the wicked is doubtless for this 
probationary purpose, under other, and perhaps 



EVERLASTING LIFE. 207 

more favorable conditions. This life seems quite 
too short, even at the longest, to determine the 
destiny of sinful men to all eternity ; and but 
few reach the longest life. More than half of 
the human race die before maturity. But few, 
it is to be hoped in so short a life, become so 
utterly corrupt as to be beyond the hope and 
possibility of redemption. Christ speaks of some 
whose sin so wholly puts them beyond the pos-, 
sibility of recuperation by the destruction of the 
moral sense, that " They shall not be forgiven, 
neither in this world nor in that wMcli is to 
Come " — implying the possibility of forgiveness 
for all other classes of sinners ; and, consequently, 
a probationary state in which we seek that for- 
giveness through repentance and receiving the 
Saving Truth in Christ. 

In respect to children who die before or soon 
after responsibility for their actions, such a pro- 
bation must in justice be awarded them, for 
they, no more than others, can attain to holy 
character but through their clioice of the truth, 
for none, in the philosophy of the case, can be 
made holy but by the operation of the will in 
accepting the law of Love, which is not, and can- 
not be imparted, in the nature of things, by 
arbitrary act. But there can be no doubt that 
children, uncorrupted by previous evil habits, 
and unassailed by '' fleshly lusts that war against 
the soul," which do not enter that world, will 
submit to the loving and tender authority of the 
'' reconciling'''' Savior, choose the way of life, 



208 ECCE VERITAS. 

and reacli the condition and fellowship of " the 
just made perfect." 

Then there are the nations unenlightened by 
the " Gospel of the grace of God." That there 
may be equality and every opportunity of salva- 
tion, they must, manifestly, continue their trial 
in the world to come, under Christ's reign of 
" Reconciliation^'' and the Love of God, whose 
"Mercy enduretJi For ever. ^^ 

Much more might be said on this question of 
probation in ih^ future life; but our plan, which 
is to deal with the direct and fundamental as- 
pects of Christianifcy, and not with collateral 
questions, precludes a more extended discussion 
of the subject. 



CHAPTER XL 

EELATION" OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM. 

Christ's position in tlie System of Human 
Salvation that He inaugurated, lias been in- 
cidentally made to appear in what we have thus 
far written ; but a more distinct account of the 
facts of the case seems to be called for in this 
place to set the subject in a more unmistakable 
light. 

" Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man 
am ? " were the words propounded by Christ to 
His followers in Matthew xvi. 13. They gave 
Him the rumors that were abroad concerning 
Him. Then He saith unto them, " But whom 
say ye that I am?" Peter replies for himself 
and companions, "Thou art the Christ, the Sois" 
of the LiymO GOD." He responds, " Blessed 
art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it 
unto thee, but My Father who is in Heaven ; 
and on this ROCK (the Truth thus revealed) I 
will build My Church, and the Gates of Hell 
shall not prevail against it." 

He elsewhere says, " I am the Way, and the 
Truth, and the Life : ]^o man cometh unto the 
Father but by Me " (John xiv. 6). He is the 

(209) 



210 ECCE VERITAS. 

Way as tlie Cheist, the I]S"cari^ate Sois", open- 
ing communication between lost men and tlie 
Fathee, as it is said, " JN'o man liath seen God 
at any time, or can see His face and live"; but 
" the Oi^LY Begotteit Son who is in the bosom of 
the Fathee, He hath Declaeed Him." This 
was why He was "made Flesh." There was a 
natural necessity in the case, both on the part of 
God and man : On the part of God, growing out, 
in some way, of His Infinite Perfections, as it is 
said, " Dwelling in light which no man can ap- 
proacJi unto ; Whom no man TiatJi seen ; oe Caist 
See." But in the same connection it is said, 
"the Lord Jesus Christ shall show Him, the 
blessed and only POTENTATE, and who only 
hath Immoetality " (1 Tim. vi. 15, 16). 

Christ is thus the Open Dooe, the Medium of 
approach to the Fathee ; the " Mediatoe of the 
]SJ"ew Covenant," being able to lay his hand upon 
both parties as " Son of God " and " Son of Man "; 
and so it is affirmed, "God is in Christ recon- 
ciling the world unto Himself." He does this 
by taking our humanity with all its tendencies, 
temptations, infirmities, and its subjection to 
death ; and having conquered all these, both for 
Himself and mankind, exalts that Humanity in 
His own Person to the Right Hand of God, 
"there appearing in the presence of God for 
us," as an emr-limng Inteecessoe for sinful, 
dying, and perishing Humanity. So, He is the 
"Way." 

But He is also the " Teuth," the embodied 



RELATION OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM. 211 

RiGHTEOUST^ESS of the Father, by which we are 
sanctified, set free from the dominion of the 
flesh and brought into communion with God, 
according to Christ's formula of salvation, " Ye 
shall know the t7^ut7iy and the Truth shall make 
you Feee." 

He is also the " Life." As the " Father, who 
only hath Immoetality," " hath life in Himself, 
so also He hath given the Son to have life in 
Himself. " Therefore, whosoever receiveth Christ 
as the Embodied Teuth, receives with Him that 
everlasting life which is based alike in Christ 
and the believer, in Sanctification of Character. 
Thus, being sanctified by the Teuth (" Sanctify 
them through Thy truth^'' was Christ's prayer) 
our " life is hid with Christ in God ; and when 
He who is our life shall appear, then shall we 
also appear with Him in glory"; "for having 
suffered with Him we shall also reign with 
Him "; as it is by His connection with sinful and 
suffering humanity that He reaches our case, 
moves us to holiness, and at last exalts us to a 
'^joint-heirsJiip " with Him to life and glory 
everlasting in Heaven. 

Thus Cheist, as it is declared, is "the only 
Name given under Heaven among men whereby 
we must be saved." From the nature of the 
case, as we have seen, there is no other way of 
access to God, "who dwelleth in light unap- 
proachable; whom no man can see"; ovly as 
" Manifested in the Flesh " in the Person of 
His Sois". "The only Begotten Son, He hath 



212 ECCE VERITAS. 

declared Him." On our part, our sinfulness and 
weakness necessitated a Deliverer outside of 
ourselves, yet of our selves. Such an one is 
Christ, the Divine Soi^ conjoined to our Hu- 
MAJS'iTY. He represents God's Love and makes 
it visible in His life of righteousness, in His 
human sympathy, in His boundless spirit of 
mercy, in His life-giving instructions, in His suf- 
ferings, and in His death. These emanations of 
His character are the Moral Forces that are 
absolutely necessary to draw human souls to re- 
pentance and to God. 

ISTow, as it was " before the foundation of the 
world" that God purposed to save the human 
family by the Ii^CARNATioisr of His Son, Christ 
was from the beginning the "Lamb or God" 
and always "Slain," for that purpose, in the 
esteem of God, " who calleth things that are not 
as though they were." And so "all the powers 
in Heaven and in earth" were given into the 
hands of the Son from the creation to work out 
the redemption of the human race. And as the 
"True Light that lighteneth every man that 
Cometh into the world," He was that light from 
the very origin of nations, everywhere and at all 
times "convincing men of sin," arousing the 
conscience against " the lusts of the flesh," and 
exciting the spirit of humanity in the human 
heart, thereby leading men to recognize the 
Divine Authority and to submit to the Will of 
the Father in obedience to that universal and 
always existing law of "Love to God and our 



RELATION OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM. 213 

neiglibor"; thus bringing to xoass tliat state of 
character whereof it is said — ''In every nation 
he that feareth God and worketh righteousness 
is accepted with Him." Thus He is the " Savior 
of all men"; as well those before His actual 
advent as those since ; as well those of imevan- 
gelized nations as those who have received the 
Gospel ; and all upon the same princiiole oi faith 
in the Loye of God made manifest in Lote to 
Man. Christ embodies that principle, is the 
living expression of it. So He says — "Every 
one that is of the truth heareth My voice." This 
is because the voice is the voice of Teuth — the 
voice of God. The response in such case, by the 
laws of spiritual harmony, is inemtdble since 
Truth is Oiste. So to those who knew nothing 
of the Historical Christ He says — " Come, ye 
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom pre- 
pared for you from the foundation of the world : 
For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat ; I 
was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a 
stranger, and ye took Me in; leaked, and ye 
clothed Me ; I was sick, and ye visited Me ; I 
was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall 
the righteous answer, saying — Lord, when saw 
we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee % or thirsty 
and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a 
stranger, and took Thee in \ or naked, and clothed 
Thee ? or when saw we Thee sick or in prison, 
and came unto Thee % And the King shall an- 
swer and say unto them — Yerily, I say unto you. 
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 



214 ECCE VERITAS. 

least of these, My Brethee]^^, ye Have done it 
Ui^TO Me"; showing that He was Personally 
out of the case, and yet Really in it, as the 
Repeeseisttatiye of the Father and of His 
Love. 

So, as the Embodied Principle of Love, as the 
Essential Truth, Personified in Him, Christ be- 
comes the Savior of the world. And the claim 
He enters on this ground He, in a similar sense, 
enters in behalf of all the exemplifiers and 
teachers of Truth. His statement is : " He that 
receiveth you, receiveth Me ; and he that re- 
ceiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me." "And 
whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your 
words, when ye depart out of that house or city, 
shake off the dust of your feet for a testimony 
against them. Yerily it shall be more tolerable 
for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment 
than for that city"; — a condemnation that the 
writer of " Foreclosure of Spiritual Unity " refers 
to as having been uttered by Christ for not re- 
ceiving and hearing Himself. Of course it would 
be applicable in His own case, certainly, if in 
theirs, yet using it as He does, it shows how 
perfect is the unity between the Truth and all 
its practical representatives and teachers. K it 
be said the censure was on Christ's account be- 
cause they were sent by Him with His word, and 
they were nothing ; then, by the same reasoning, 
because He was sent by the Father with His 
word. He was nothing, but the Father all; 
which is really the true statement, as Christ 



RELATION OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM. 215 

expresses it — "I do nothing of Myself; bnt as 
My Father hath taught Me, I do these things." 
So neither Christ nor His apostles were, person- 
ally, anything, bnt God and His Truth were 
all. 

And here it is to be farther observed, that 
Christ asserts no Personal authority on the 
ground of original absolute G-odhead, as will 
appear from what follows. He makes Himself 
another and distinct being from the Absolute 
God, as where He says — " This is eternal life to 
know Thee, the Only TEUE GOD, and Jesus 
Christ whom THOU hast sent.^' " My Father 
is greater than I." As if He had said: — God is 
SUPREME, and I am His Son and Messenger 
sent to bear His Love to the Human Race. And 
to that position He was appointed by virtue of 
His Character, which was to be His power of 
accomplishment, and not a result to be effected 
by prerogative of Personal authority. So He 
says : — " Though ye believe not Me, yet believe 
for the works' sake ; for as the Father hath 
taught Me, I do these things." "And if ye be- 
lieve not, I Judge you not ; the Word, that shall 
judge you " — that Word that He had declared, 
and which was alive in Him. 

So, as we said. He makes Himself a distinct 
and different Person from the IismNiTE Father, 
who is superior in the infinitude of His knowl- 
edge, in the absoluteness of His authority, and 
in the eternity of His being. This distinction of 
being is essential to personality — they cannot 



216 ECCE VERITAS. 

be merged in One. Sucli merging would be a 
natural impossibility ; a philosophical absurdity. 
So as there cannot be Two in Oi^e, there cannot 
be Theee ; and consequently the Teii^ity — 
Three Persons in Ojn^e God of equal power, 
knowledge, authority, and eternity, is a dogma 
which Christ's teachings exclude from the Sys- 
tem of truth which He established. That the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are One in the true 
UNITY taught by Christ, is as philosophical and 
as much a necessity, as the other is unphilo- 
sophical and impossible. Christ prays to His 
Father in behalf of Himself and His followers 
that " all may be one as Thou, Father, art in 
Me and I in Thee, that they may be one in Us " 
— " That they may be one even as We are One. 
I in tkem, and Thou in Me, that they may be 
made perfect in One." Thus the unity of the 
saints is of the same nature as that of Christ and 
the Father ; and the Bond that binds them is the 
same as that that unites the Father and the Son, 
and, therefore, is a Princiyle common to all. 
That principle is Love, involving a common pur- 
pose — the SALVATION OF MEN ; and a common 
law of action — the Will of God. Here is a 
unity with the dissonance of no single string ; a 
harmony and peace that is perfect. But, though 
the Father and Son are not one by the merging 
of their Peesonalities, yet the Son so partakes 
of the Father's nature and attributes, and is so 
at one with His Supreme Will, that He becomes 
the " ExPEESS Image of His Peeson " — " God 



RELATION OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM. 217 

Mais'Ifested iif THE Flesh "; and so, wMle 
affirming, "My Father is greater than I," He 
could say, and did say, " I and My Father are 
One": "He that hath seen Me hath seen the 
Fathee." 

Christ's life, sufferings, and death were 
YicAEious. He says, "I am the Good Shep- 
herd : the Good Shepherd giveth His life for 
the Sheep." And after His crucifixion, in ex- 
plaining the relation of His death to His cause, 
He says, "Ought not Christ to have suffered 
these things, and to enter His glory % " " It be- 
hoved Him," it is said, " to be made in all things 
like unto His brethren, that He might be a merci- 
ful and faithful High Priest in things pertain- 
ing to God, to make reconciliation for the sins 
of the people : for in that He Himself hath suf- 
fered, being tempted, He is able to succour 
them that are tempted." And so it is said, "A 
Body Thou hast prepared for me " — a hody in 
which He might suffer in behalf of those He 
came into the world to " succour " and to sa^e. 
And so it is said of Him, " He is a man of sor- 
rows and acquainted with grief. The chastise- 
ment of our peace is upon Him, and with His 
stripes we are healed. He was led as a lamb to 
the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers 
is dumb, so he opened not His mouth." In His 
sufferings for us He cries out, " My soul is ex- 
ceeding sorrowful, even unto death." And, 
amid the rending of rocks and overspreading 
darkness, in the death-agonies of the crucifixion 
10 



318 ECCE VERITAS. 

He exclaims, " It is Fi:n'ished," and " gives np 
the ghost." 

In all this He suffered vicariously, giving His 
life for the life of the world. It was by such means 
that He qualified Himself to be our Deliveree. 
" For it became Him, for whom are all things^ 
and by whom are all things, in bringing many 
sons unto glory, to make the Capt Aiis" of their Sal- 
vation Perfect Through SUFFERINGS." In 
these things He furnishes us an example to teach 
us patience, and supplies the Moral Force to lift 
us above all the incidents of our mortal state, 
give us victory over the world, and transfer our 
" affections from things on the earth "to " things 
in Heaven." The fruitfulness of suffering and 
death vicariously endured is illustrated by Christ 
where he says, " Except a corn of wheat fall into 
the ground and die, it abideth alone : but if it 
die, it bringeth forth Much Fruit." In this He 
referred to His own death, immediately adding, 
" And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
draw all men unto Me." And in the same con- 
nection. He teaches that the same principle of 
vicarious sacrifice applies to others as to Himself, 
saying, " He that loveth his life shall lose it ; 
and he that hateth his life in this world shall 
keep it unto life eternal. " That is, he who should 
sacrifice his life at the call of Christ to "follow 
Him^^ even to the point of dying for the Truth, 
as He did, should bring forth mucJi fruit in the 
salvation of others, and win for himself "the 
life eternal." Self-sacrifice is the genius of 



RELATION OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM, 219 

Christ's cause, in wliicli He takes the Leadee- 
SHiP as the '' CAPTAIN of Salvation." It is the 
common trait of discipleship ; " Bear ye one 
another's burdens, and so fulfill the Law of 
CHRIST," is the exhortation of an Apostle 
who had been with Christ and learned of Him. 
While another says, " Because Christ hath laid 
down His life for us, we ought to lay down our 
lives for others." Joh]^ Brown^, in obedience to 
this Law, dies for the slaves, and the fruit is, 
millions are set free, and thousands of lives that 
would have perished in the rice swamps and 
cotton fields, or by the lash and bloodhound, are 
preserved. Christ died for Truth and universal 
Humanity ; and that Truth, accelerated by the 
Moral In'fluejs'ce of His Death, goes sweeping 
down the ages and over the earth as the Hope 
and Life of the world. '^Christ ain^d Him 
Crucified" becomes the WATCHWORD of 
the Heralds of Salyatiois^, because upon the 
Cross He gave His Life in Martyrdom for the 
TRUTH ; and because there the Moral Forces 
of Salvation Culmii^ated as the finishing work 
of His SAvi^a Power, fulfilling His own word, 
" And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all MEiq- 
unto Me." 

Thus is Christ our Atonement. He brings 
God and man together — makes them At One. 
This is the meaning of the word, as will clearly 
appear, if we separate it into syllables — At-One- 
Ment. It is reconciliation of parties at vari- 
ance. So it is said : — " God was in Christ recon- 



220 ECCE VERITAS. 

ciling the world unto Himself, not imputing 
their trespasses unto tliem^'' — treating them as 
innocent^ though, really guilty^ while the offer 
of grace is pending^ and Christ is influencing 
men to accept Him — that is, the Pkinciples of 
Love and Eighteousitess which He represents. 
And so, of those who thus accept Him, it is 
said: — "Being justified hj faith (the accepting 
before mentioned), we have peace with God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we 
have now received the Atonement." "There- 
fore as by the offence of one, judgment of Death 
came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by 
the RiGHTEOUS]srESS of one (Christ) the free gift 
came upon all men unto justification of Liee " — 
the opportunity of eternal deliverance from 
Death, by the Eesuerection- of Christ as the 
" First Fruits of them that slept " — the dead. 
" That as sin hath reigned unto Death, even so 
might grace reign through Righteousness unto 
Etert^al Life by Jesus Christ our Lord." 
Wherefore, to complete the Apostle's argument, 
it is added : — " There is now, therefore, no con- 
demnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who 
walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. 
For God, sending His own Son in the Likeis-ess 
of Sii^FUL Flesh, and for sin condemned sin in 
the Flesh ; that the righteousness of the law 
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the 
Flesh, but after the Spirit. For to be carnally 
minded is death ; but to be spiritually minded 
is Life and Peace " — the Peace of Reconcilia- 



RELATION OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM. 221 

TiON ; and this bronght to pass by our Yicaei- 
ous Sufferer by His being made, as here said, 
in the "Ltkeistess of Siistful Flesh," to "be 
tempted in all points as we are," and yet triumph 
in Righteousness, to furnish the Example of 
what we must be, and to supply the Moral 
Force to lift us into conformity to that Example. 
Thus, on the one hand. He opens the way to the 
Father, from whom, by His very nature, as we 
have seen, we are shut out ; and on the other 
hand, by His teachings, sufferings, and death, 
" draws men " into that Wat, thus opened, and 
finally to Heaveis" and to God. Thus we see it is 
the " Flesh, witli its affections and lusts," that 
shuts out from God until " BoR]^ of the Spirit " 
and delivered from the dominance of the " Carnal 
mind,'''' Such is the redemption by Christ ; and 
so we say and sing, in the words of the old 
evangelical hymn : — 

'' Lord, I beheve were sinners more 
Than sands upon the ocean's shore, 
Thou hast for all a ransom paid — 
For all a full atonement made." 

But this is a very different thing from His 
sacrificing Himself substitutionally as a victim 
to violated law, suffering the ^penalty of that 
law in the sinnefs stead. This doctrine we 
have sho^vn in another place to be absurd, un- 
just, and impossible. There are but few of His 
sayings that show even a semblance of such a 
doctrine, and it requires the astutest theological 



222 ECCE VERITAS. 

casuistry to, even, infer sucli a speculation from 
them. We tMnk tlie only passages that can be 
warped into a seeming show of the dogma, are 
the following : " He took the bread and break it, 
and said : Take, eat ; this is my body. And He 
took the cup, saying : Drink ye all of it ; for this 
is my blood of the JSTew Testament, which is shed 
for many, for the remission of sins " (Matthew 
xxvi. 26-28). " I am the Good Shepherd ; the 
Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep" 
(John X. 11). " And the bread that I will give is 
my flesh, which I give for the life of the world," 
" Yerily, verily, except ye eat the flesh of the 
Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life 
in you." "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh 
my blood, hath eternal life." "As the living 
Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so 
he that eateth me shall live by me " (John vi. 
51-57). 

In respect to the first of these passages it is 
proper to say, the words were spoken at the 
Passover Supper on the night before the cruci- 
fixion, when Christ for the last time celebrated 
that Feast with His disciples. The Passover 
Supper was the beginning of the Feast of Un- 
leavened Bread, celebrated by the Jews in com- 
memoration of the deliverance of their ancestors 
from their bondage in Egypt. The Supper par- 
ticularly symbolized the deliverance of their first- 
born from death by the destroying angel on the 
night of their departure out of Egypt. This 
escape from death was in consequence of the 



RELATION OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM. 223 

blood of a lamb, slaughtered for the purpose, 
being dashed on the lintels and door-posts of 
their houses, in consequence of which, being 
seen by the angel, he passed over their dwell- 
ings, smiting only the homes of the Egyptians. 
The Supper was made up of three parts: — the 
tasting of unleavened bread and bitter herbs, the 
eating of the paschal lamb, and at the close, the 
passing of bread and a cup of wine. The lamb, 
of course, symbolized the one that each family 
slaughtered and, probably, ate on the night they 
left Egypt, while the cup of wine typified the 
blood of the victim, and was substituted for it, 
as the blood of sacrificed animals the Jews were 
forbidden to taste. 

Now the other parts of the Supper having 
been finished, the Master, while He was dis- 
tributing the bread and the cup, took occasion 
to change the object of the feast from its Jewish 
purpose to a memorial of His own death and the 
deliverance from spiritual bondage that He was 
to achieve for man. So He took the bread and 
said : " This is my body." Then the cup, saying, 
" This is my blood," etc. The ideas, in order to 
have any significance to His Jewish companions, 
must spring from those involved in the Passover 
Supper, and with these alone Christ would natu- 
rally be occupied. So we may paraphrase His 
words thus : '' This bread is a symbol of my 
body, which is soon to be devoted to death ; and 
this cup of wine, representing the blood of the 
paschal lamb, I make a symbol of my blood 



224 ECCE VERITAS. 

wMch. is soon to be sTied by those who, even 
now, are conspiring against my life. And, as 
the Old Covenant is characterized by expiatory 
sacrifices, whose blood is its seal, and for one 
nation only -^ my blood is the seal of the ISTew 
Covenant, and is shed, not for one nation only, 
bnt for many — for all mankind, ' for the dismis- 
sion, the ending of sin-offerings.'' " It would be 
natural for Jesus in using the symbols of this 
last sacrificial supper in accommodation to Him- 
self and the New Dispensation, to refer to the 
fact of the ending of the old sacrificial system, 
which it was His to abolish. And He most 
probably did so ; as the Greek words, f /? acpeaiv 
d/AapriGDv justify the rendering — "/br the dis- 
mission of sin " — or sin-offerings. Though the 
words sometimes have the meaning given them 
by the translators, the occasion and the matters 
with which Christ was dealing, call for the ren- 
dering which we have given them. The most 
prominent meaning of acpeaiv is dismission ; 
and sin-offering is a common meaning of 
ocjiapria, the plural possessive of which is em- 
ployed in the text of the original. So there is 
no certain ground here for the death of Christ as 
a sacrifice to the demands of violated law. 

But, even admitting the correctness of the 
translation as we have it in the text, no such 
doctrine is involved. The meaning in that case 
is, — As the blood of the Passover lamb was a sym- 
bol of God's mercy and power in the deliverance 
from the bondage in Egypt ; so Christ's blood is 



RELATION OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM. 225 

a symbol of tlie Truth of God wMcli He em- 
bodied ; and the reception of which should effect 
"the remission of sin," deliverance from the 
bondage of sin and death, according to that 
fundamental statement of Christ, " The Truth 
shall make you Free." This is what the body 
and blood of Christ signify; for to the Truth 
they were consecrated and freely given in martyr- 
dom upon the Cross. 

As to the second of the texts quoted, " The 
Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep," it 
is clear that His sole reference is to the mag- 
nanimous and heroic devotion of Himself, as 
their Leader, to the cause in which they had a 
vital interest, in being ready to die to uphold it, 
as He very soon after did. He was no selfish 
" Hireling " to flee in the hour of peril when the 
" wolves " would pounce upon the prey. So, in 
that perilous hour, when His captors rushed 
upon Him in the Garden, He exclaimed, " If ye 
seek Jesus of Nazareth, / am He ; therefore, let 
these go their way^^\ placing Himself in the 
deadly breach alone, alive only for the safety of 
"the^Aeep"; thus "giving His life for them," 
and, at the same time, teaching them the ex- 
ample of self-sacrifice. The Apostle John so 
understood it, for in one of his epistles he says, 
" If He laid down His life for us, we ought also 
to lay down our lives for the brethren." 

The remaining quotations, which all aim at the 
same point, we shall interpret together. " Except 
ye eat my flesh and drink my blood, ye have no 
10^ 



226 ECCE VERITAS. 

life in yon." "Whoso eateth my flesh and 
drinketh my blood hatli eternal life." Now, to 
eat His very flesh and drink His literal blood 
was a natural impossibility. JN'either can they, 
literally considered, be partaken of in a spiritual 
sense. The spiritual faculties deal not with sen- 
suous things, and cannot appropriate them. The 
orthodox Protestants, seeing this, and yet giving 
His actual flesh and blood a place in the Atone- 
ment, say, there is in them a spiritual and saving 
virtue which can be availed of by an act of faith. 
But this is a philosophical absurdity. There can 
be no spiritual substance in sensible objects, 
neither really nor relatively. The material and 
the spiritual are both in nature and effect ab- 
solutely different and distinct. No act of faith, 
therefore, can find anything in flesh and blood 
of a quality to appropriate. So, if transubstan- 
tiation were not a figment, but inevitable fact, 
and so the wafer and the wine the very body and 
blood of Christ, they could not avail anything 
for the salvation of the soul ; for when so con- 
verted they would still be sensuous things and 
beyond the reach of the spiritual faculty of faith. 
It is clear, therefore, that any view of the Atone- 
ment that makes its efficiency to depend, in either 
of these senses, upon the literal body and blood 
of Jesus, is false. But, if it be said that these 
being given in sacrifice to satisfy Divine Justice 
in meeting the penalty of His violated law, and 
that, therefore, their effect is on the law, to make 
salvation possible at all, and thus indirectly 



RELATION OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM. 227 

benefiting the sinner, to this there are three 
replies. First, that the sacrifice being of the 
innocent for the guilty in a judicial case, in- 
volves a violation of both justice and mercy ^ 
which could not enter into the administration of 
the Government of God ; and hence could not be 
required or accepted by Him. Secondly, The 
law of God is not arMtrary^ but acts of neces- 
sity and righteously, and its penalties must fall on 
the guilty and not upon the innocent. The third 
reply is, That there can be no virtue in a cor- 
poral sacrifice to meet the demands of a spiritual 
law. So, the doctrine of Christ's body and blood 
offered as a judicial sacrifice for sin, in substitu- 
tion for the penalty due to transgression, is, in 
every way, not only false in fact, but its truth 
impossible both under the law of cause and effect, 
and the law of the Moral Government of God. 

Did Christ, then, being ignorant of this im- 
possibility, and supposing by devoting His body 
to death He could convert it into the bread of 
life, or make it a potency to reconcile an, other- 
wise, inexorable God, talk about His body and 
blood with a view to inculcate such a doctrine ? 
He was too well acquainted with principles, with 
causes, with the nature of His Father's Govern- 
ment, to fall into any such error. And He was 
too honest, and too much in earnest to be dealing 
in such speculations. 

What, then, was the meaning of His words ? 
His use of them must be enough to show that 
they were highly significant. He was accustom- 



228 ECCE VERITAS. 

ed to speak in symbolical terms, and here did so 
in an eminent degree. In explaining Him we 
shall have to repeat much that we have al- 
ready said respecting His essential nature — His 
Spieitual Self. He sometimes even speaks in 
the language of seeming paradox, to excite at- 
tention and provoke more acute inquiry. But 
in such cases, before He left the subject, He 
usually said something to explain Himself, or 
with which they might thread His meaning. So 
it was here. He used a figure of speech, and 
there was a subtile and deeply underlying mean- 
ing which had the intended effect. It awakened 
inquiry. They said, " How can He give us His 
flesh to eat 1 " " This is a hard saying, who can 
hear it ? " — who can understand it ? He replies, 
" Doth this offend (stumble) you ? " He ex- 
plains, "It is the spirit that quickeneth, the 
FLESH profiteth nothing. The words that I 
speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life.''^ 
So we learn His words are not to be taken, at all, 
literally. As if He had said, My words are 
altogether spiritual. His " flesh and blood," by 
metonymy, stand for the substance of His 
spiritual nature — ^the principles embodied in His 
character, and manifested in His spiritual life. 
That life was so wholly of the Truth that He 
could say, as He did say, " I am the Teuth." 
This is the " Me" of which' He says in this very 
conversation, " He that eateth Me shall live by 
Me ; even as Ilixe hy the Fathee." Thus the 
same substance that He partook of the Father 



RELATION OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM. 229 

and by wliicli He lived, was tliat of wMcL. they 
were to partake, and by wliicli they also were to 
live. That snbstance of the Divine ISTature which 
Christ received was God's Truth and Loye. All 
souls must receive and live by the same. The 
Truth is one ; and through whatever medium re- 
ceived it is still God's. So we come back to the 
ever-recurring position of Christ in His relation 
to His own system, the " I " and the " Me " rep- 
resent, not Him as a soul clothed mth flesh and 
blood ; not that person that was born of Maey, 
but the Spiritual Being, born of the " LIVmG 
FATHER," the " So]^ of GOD," and " filled," as 
an Apostle expresses it, " with all the Fulness 
of GOD." This so enwrapped Him, so inter- 
penetrated His being, and was so the life-blood 
of that being, that He might well call it the 
flesh and blood — ^the substance and life — of His 
Spiritual Self, and say, " Except ye eat My 
flesh and drink My blood ye have no life in 
you"; for it is eating and drinking of the FuL- 
]srESS OF GOD. 

Thus Christ is here, as everywhere in harmony 
with the constructive Principles of His system 
— the Truth and its incorporation into the 
powers, capacities, and functions of the soul. 
He never loses sight of this, and is never in 
conflict with it. There is no materialism, no 
mystery, no speculation, no dogmatic beliefs ; 
and leaves no room for devoting His body to 
death, in sacrifice to the demands of God's 
violated law, to be appropriated by transubstan- 



230 ECCE VERITAS. 

tiation, or by some subtile process of the soul, 
distilling from His literal flesh and blood the 
Elixir of Eternal Life. If He gives His life on 
the Cross, it is still to "hear witness to the 
TRUTH." He devotes His Body to Death in 
allegiance to it, throwing into its Cause the moral 
force of His Martyrdom to bear it still more 
mightily on its Mission down the Ages and over 
the World, for the enlightening, purifying, and 
giving Life to the Human Race. Thus and not 
otherwise "GOD is in Christ reconciling the 
world unto Himself." If Cheist is eminently 
the Savioe of the world, it is because He was 
sent of the Father and embodies the Liviis^G 
FoECES of God's Loye and Teuth that bear the 
soul into the Way of Life. And now we close 
this Chapter with the words of Rei^ais' : 

" Repose in Thy glory, NOBLE FOUNDER ! 
Thy work is finished. Thy Divinity is estab- 
lished. Henceforth Thou shalt witness from the 
heights of divine peace, the infinite results of 
Thy acts. At the price of a few hours of suffer- 
ing which did not even reach Thy Grand Soul, 
Thou hast bought the most complete im- 
mortality. A thousand times more alive, a 
thousand times more beloved, since Thy death, 
than during Thy passage here below, Thou shalt 
become so the Corner- Stone of Humanity, that to 
tear Thy Name from this world would be to rend 
it to its foundations. Between Thee and God 
there will no longer be any distinction. Com- 



RELATION OF CHRIST TO HIS SYSTEM. 231 

plete Conqueror of Death., take possession of 
Thy Kingdom, whither shall follow Thee, by the 
royal road Thou hast traced, ages of Worship- 
pers ! Whatever may be the emprises of the 
future, JESUS will never be surpassed.'' 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE OHEISTIANITY OF CHRIST THE ABSOLUTE 
EELiaiON. 

We say tlie Christianity of Cheist to dis- 
tinguish it from that which is taught by the 
popular Church. It has appeared in what we 
have already written, that the Christianity of the 
current Theology is almost altogether different 
from the Teachings of the Master ; and that 
fact will now finally and fully appear in what we 
shall have to say in this Chapter. 

The current, so called. Christian Religion is, 
for the most part, made of a system of forms, 
dogmatical doctrines, a more or less sensuous 
worship, and the whole embodied in multitudin- 
ous sects, where the creed is the test of soundness 
of faith instead of the Divine formula — " He that 
feareth God and worketh righteousness is ac- 
cepted of Him"; and "Hereby shall all men 
know that ye are My Disciples, if ye Love one 
another,^'' The Christianity of Christ differs 
from that of the Sects in that it is composed of 
Principles, pure, perfect, and complete. They 
demand the strictest personal virtue of heart 
and life ; the highest Social Justice, and the 

(232) 



THE ABSOLUTE RELIGION. 233 

broadest, deepest, and most compreliensive Hu- 
manity and Love. They forbid and exclude all 
sin and wrong, and inculcate and enforce every 
duty of every human relation, laying down, as 
the Law — " All things whatsoever ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye even so unto them "; 
and "Love thy Neighbor as thyself." 

Christ teaches that " God is a Spirit," and One ; 
that He holds the relation of Father to the 
Human Family ; that His Throne and Character 
are Truth, and that His essential Moral Nature 
is Love. He is the "Only True God," and 
Christ His Son" and Represeis-tative — " God 
manifested in the Flesh." God being One, and 
Unity the order of His Kingdom, all true souls 
are one in Him. Truth is the basis, and choice 
of Truth, making it our own, the open Door 
through which we enter God's Kingdom and 
into the fellowship of the saints, whose love and 
harmony are the proof to the world that Christ's 
Religion is from Heaven. 

Christ made Truth the Absolute Savior of 
men, and every man in " himself " the " judge of 
what is right " and capable of " doing the will of 
God," whereby " he should know the Truth, and 
the Truth should make him Free." He set up 
no Personal Authority, but " came into the world 
to bear witness to the Truth." He imposes on 
the soul no arbitrary authority, and sets His 
Religion free from all non-essential things, which 
we shall now proceed to show in greater detail. 

Christ instituted no Ordinances, established 



234 ECCE VERITAS. 

no rites, ordered no system of sensuous worship, 
created no Hierarcliy of Priests, taught no specu- 
lative beliefs, but made Absolute Truth alone 
the means of salvation, and the door into His 
Church. 

What is called the Lord's Supper, and Bap- 
tism, have been exalted into Sacraments by the 
Protestants ; while the Eomish Church has added 
five others, viz., confirmation, penance, orders, 
matrimony, and extreme unction. With these 
latter we shall have nothing to do, as they are 
too obviously without the sanction of Christ to 
demand our attention. The Lord's Supper and 
Baptism stand on a somewhat different footing, 
and call for some words to set them in their 
proper light. 

When Christ and His disciples were eating the 
Passover Supper, as we said in a former place. 
He took occasion to change the symbols from 
their Jewish purpose to a memorial of His own 
death, telling His disciples, as oft as they cele- 
brated that Supper afterward, to do it, not in 
commemoration of the deliverance from Egyptian 
bondage, but "in remembrance of Him." For a 
time, as Jews, they would celebrate the Supper, 
and " as oft " as they might do it He requested it 
to be done in memory of Him. This was all 
there was of it. It, in any case, was but tem- 
porary, only to last while the Jewish ceremony 
might continue, and certainly never commanded 
by Jesus as an ordinance in His Church. We 
are aware that the theologians contend that the 



THE ABSOLUTE RELIGION. 235 

Lord^s Supper was not tlie Passover, but another, 
and instituted after the close of the Passover 
Supper. This they base on a single phrase in 
Lnke's account of the matter, in which he says, 
" Likewise also the cup after supper." But this, 
manifestly, has reference to eating the paschal 
lamb, which was the Supper proper ; and the cup 
being last in the ceremony, is only spoken of as 
after on this account. This, therefore, is a very 
slender foundation on which to build, by the 
authority of Christ, a perpetual ordinance for 
His Church. 

On the same occasion Jesus "girded Himself 
with a towel, and pouring water into a basin, 
proceeded to wash His disciples' feet"; and after 
the ceremony was finished said : " If I, your Lord 
and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought to 
wash one another's feet. I have given you an 
example that you should do as I have done." 
This stands on, apparently, even higher ground 
of authority than the Supper ; and John, while 
he gives great prominence to this feet-washing 
act in his account, does not mention the transac- 
tions of the Supper at all, but simply says : 
" Supper being ended." This neglect to state, 
not only the circumstances of the Supper, but 
the fact of its taking place except by indirect 
allusion, is very significant. If the ceremony 
had been meant as the ordainment of an ordi- 
nance, John, of all others, would not have been 
likely to leave it unnoticed. So let it not be 
imposed on the conscience, as a sacrament. As 



236 ECCE VERITAS. 

a memorial of the Dear Christ, — in which sense 
it was used in the Primitive Church, showing 
thereby, as Paul says, " the Lord's death till He 
come" — it is an innocent and even beautiful 
ceremony, and may be attended to with profit 
by His loving Disciples who may feel disposed 
to continue the banquet as a social reminder of 
the Master, "who loved us and gave Himself 
for us." 

Neither did Christ institute water Baptism as 
an ordinance of His Church. Baptism, without 
resting on any positive authority, had sprung 
up in the Jewish Church and was largely prac- 
ticed, especially, in the admission of proselytes. 
John, the forerunner of Jesus, therefore, came 
baptizing his converts. Christ, Himself, was 
baptized by John ; and when He began His 
public work and followers began to flock to His 
side. He allowed His own converts to be bap- 
tized, some of the Twelve performing the cere- 
mony at first, and afterwards, perhaps, some 
others assisted. But all this was to adapt Him- 
self to Jewish feelings and the general custom. 
He did not command it even in this preliminary 
state of His cause; much less as a perpetual 
ceremony of His Church. The only place where 
He alluded to water in connection with the re- 
generation of the soul, is in His conversation 
with Nicodemus, where He says : " Except a man 
be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter 
the Kingdom of God." But, manifestly, this 
does not refer to water baptism, as He calls it 



THE ABSOLUTE RELIGION. 237 

being ''horn of water." As water was a symbol 
of purity^ He uses tlie word in a figurative way 
for such purity. As if He had said : " Except a 
man be born of the purifying principle of Truth, 
and of the Spirit,'- etc., using tautological phrase- 
ology, which was common with Hebrew speakers 
and ^vriters ; for to be born of the Truth and the 
Spirit was one and the same thing. Thus John 
the Baptist, when contrasting his own baptism 
with that of Christ's says : " I, indeed, baptize 
you with water ; but He shall baptize you \vith 
the Holy Ghost and with Fire^'' — the Holy Ghost 
was the Fire ; and the Fire was the Holy Ghost. 
So the purifying Principle was the Spirit ; and 
the Spirit was the purifying Principle. And 
that Christ alluded to only one agent is clear, 
for He immediately adds — " That which is born 
of the flesh, is flesh ; and that which is born of 
the Spirit, is Spirit," using the one term. Spirit, 
without the tautology. This using water for the 
purifying Principle is imitated by Paul where 
he speaks of " the wasMng by the water of the 

WOED." 

The only words on which the Baptists rely for 
the positive authority of Chiist are those in the 
28th Chapter of Matthew, viz. : " Go ye therefore, 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in (or into) 
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost." But the Name, in such a 
connection, has no reference to a form of words, 
a mere designating term. JSfame, when applied 
to God in the Scriptures, almost invariably sig- 



238 ECGE VERITAS. 

nifies God, Himself — His moral attributes or 
principles of His character. And so it is to be 
understood here. They were to baptize their 
converts into the Father Himself ; into the very 
Principle that glorifies His Moral Nature — into 
the Immutable Truth. And into the Soisr who 
embodied the Truth, and into the Holy Ghost 
whom Christ declares to be the " Spirit of Truth." 
So, they were to immerse their converts into the 
very N'atare of God, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost, which is Truth and Loye. It was 
to be no conversion to mere beliefs, nominal pro- 
fessions, rites, or forms, but to an experimental 
knowledge of the Eternal Principles of the 
Divine Character. 

The passage on which we have thus commented 
is from Matthew. Mark does not give it this 
form of expression, but states it thus : " Go ye 
into all the world and preach the Gospel to 
every creature. He that believeth and is bap- 
tized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not, 
shall be damned." Now, it is not to be sup- 
posed that Christ used both forms. So it would 
appear that the Writers were not particular as 
to the exact phraseology, so long as they gave 
the substance of what the Master said. So He 
may not have used the exact words that either 
has given. He may have only said—" Go ye 
into all the world and preach the Gospel to 
every creature. He that believeth shall be saved; 
and he that believeth not shall be damned"; 
which would make the text more consistent with 



THE ABSOLUTE RELIGION. 239 

itself; for even Mark does not put baptized in 
the last clause of the passage. He does not 
say — " He that believeth not and is not baptized 
shall be damned." This shows that he did not 
consider baptism essential to salvation ; for if he 
did he should have stated it as a certain cause 
of the ruin of the soul. If non-baptism, there- 
fore, is not a reason of the damnation, then one 
that believes will be saved without baptism by 
water. So it is quite clear that Christ did not 
use the word in either text. For it was not like 
Him to make a thing important, seemingly vital, 
and yet that might be totally neglected and no 
evil consequences follow. Again : if water bap- 
tism is meant, it is quite evident He did not use 
the word, from the fact that in all His previous 
teachings He ever made faith, the receiving of 
the Truth, the sole ground of justification, never 
for once speaking of baptism by water in con- 
nection with the subject, nor, indeed, anywhere. 
His formula had ever been— "He that heareth 
My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, 
hath everlasting life." IN'othing, whatever, of 
baptism, or of anything but the essential Truth. 
Would He insist on His Apostles doing that 
which He never did Himself ? Would He make 
that a condition of Discipleship after His cruci- 
fixion, which He never taught before, whatever 
might have been His practice, as matter of ex- 
pediency, in respect to His own and His Dis- 
ciples' baptism ? 
But, once more. Allowing He used the word 



240 ECCE VERITAS. 

baptized in the connection as Mark gives it, then, 
as John the Baptist had said, in contrasting him- 
self with Christ, — " I baptize yon with water, but 
He shall baptize yon with the Holy G-host," — 
the baptism He spoke of must have been His 
own baptism of the Holy Ghost ; and this vtonld 
have agreed with His uniform teaching. 

All this on the assumption of the genuineness 
of the passage in Mark on which we have been 
commenting. But this passage in Mark is not 
genuine. Christ never uttered it, and, hence, it 
is without authority. The text is not sustained 
by the best manuscripts, such as the famous 
Codex Yaticanus, and many others. Hence the 
authors of the recent New Testament translation 
have discarded it, with all of the 16th Chapter of 
Mark from the 9th verse to the end. What, 
therefore, seemed ]3robable, even in King James's 
translation, that Christ could not have uttered 
what was so inconsistent with all His teachings, 
turns out to be an interpolation ; and as there is 
no other text on which to found the ordinance of 
Water Baptism, we may dismiss it as unauthor- 
ized by Christ, whose only baptism is the Bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost. This is the one Baptism 
of Christ's Church, and is essential, as it is the 
sanctification of the soul by the TrutJi, the Holy 
Spirit being the "Spirit of Truth." So Paul 
understood it, and boldly proclaimed his inde- 
pendence of any and every authority imposing 
baptism as an obligation authorized by Christ, 
his sole authority in this and in all things. He 



THE ABSOLUTE RELIGION. 241 

says :— " There is One Lord ; One Faith ; One 
Baptism; One God and Father of all." To 
illustrate a little further, the gronnd here taken 
that water baptism is not an ordinance of Christ's 
Church, although a custom in the Apostles' time, 
we refer again to what Paul says respecting it. He 
declares he did not baptize his converts ; for he 
says — " Christ did not send me to baptize, but to 
preach the Gospel"; which shows that he treat- 
ed it as unessential, uncommanded, — a mere 
custom founded in expediency, for facilitating 
the cause of the nascent religion. For this pur- 
pose it had its uses ; but, as an ordinance of 
Christ's commanding, was without foundation. 

As to Mihcalistic and Sensuous Worship^ less 
or more, we believe it is not pretended to rest on 
Christ's authority, or any practice of His. It is 
the creation of subsequent Ecclesiastical author- 
ity, assuming the right to legislate in His name. 
Jesus never ordained any form of Public Wor- 
ship, nor, indeed, any Public Worship at all. 
He commanded His Apostles and their successors 
to preach the Gospel ; to reach the ears and 
souls of men with the Eternal Truth as best 
they might ; but as to public worship He insti- 
tuted nothing either by precept or example. He 
taught them to pray, and told them to " enter 
into their closets and pray to their Father in 
secret"; and assured them that "the true wor- 
sMppers should worship the Father in spirit and 
in truth." N'ot in gorgeous Temples with ritual- 
istic pageantry, sensuous show, "much speak- 
11 



242 ECCE VERITAS. 

ing," and " vain repetitions," bnt alone and in 
secret. Hence He, Himself, never liad any pub- 
lic gatherings for devotional purposes, but ex- 
clusively for tlie instruction of the people. So, 
He erected no Temples, built no diurch edifices, 
consecrated no altars, and established no cere- 
monial services. His system was purely spirit- 
ual and was to be diffused by purely spiritual 
forces. Time, and Place, and Form were entirely 
excluded. '' Neither in this Mountain, nor yet 
at Jerusalem shall men worship the Father," He 
told the Samaritan woman. All the systems of 
worship that have sprung up and prevailed in 
the nominal Church for centuries, are the inven- 
tion of the mistaken or calculating Priesthood, 
which intervened after Christ and, for the most 
part, after the Apostolic age, to accommodate 
the service of the Church to the worship of the 
Pagan Temple ; especially after the Empire took 
the Church under its protection and patronage 
through the acquisition of Constantine. to its 
membership. More and more this sensuous dis- 
play prevailed, till the gorgeous Cathedral rose 
in imitation of the Temple of Jupiter and Mi- 
nerva ; the Hierarchy in place of the Pagan 
Priests ; the infallible word in place of the 
Oracle ; the sacrificial Emblems of the Body 
and Blood of Christ as a sacrament in place of 
bleeding victims of Pagan sacrificial slaughter ; 
the chants, the prayers, the genuflections, the 
sacerdotal robes, and organ music, in place of 
the ceremonials of Heathen Divinities ; and even 



THE ABSOLUTE RELIGION. 243 

exalted tliat bloody instrument of Pagan Tor- 
ture — the Roman Ceoss, into an object of adora- 
tion or a charm to be carried in the bosom, 
instead of the true cross of denial of ^^flesTily 
lusts that war against the sonl," which Christ 
commanded His followers to "take np," and 
" whereby," as Paul says, " I am crucified unto 
the world, and the world unto me." Thus the 
simplicity of Christ and His system have been 
merged into an empty show of carnal observ- 
ances ; while still the " True Worshippers," now, 
as ever, "worship the Father in spirit and in 
truth ; for He seeketh such to worship Him." 

Christ created no Hierarchy. His Disciples 
were told by Him to " call no man Father on the 
earth." To "call no man Master"; to hold 
themselves as equal brethren, and if any one 
"would be chiefs he should be the servant of 
all"; "even as the Son of Man came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister." The whole 
Hierarchy of both the Catholic and Protestant 
churches is excluded, condemned, and forbidden 
by the teachings of Christ and the spirit of His 
system as a hindrance to the propagation of the 
Truth on account of the wealth it requires to 
sustain it, the ostentation it involves, the " lord- 
ship over the faith " that it assumes, and its evil 
effect on the world by falsifying Christianity and 
the simplicity of the character of Christ. " Where 
two or three are gathered together in the name 
of Christ, He is in their midst," and there is His 
church. The Apostles of the Gospel are sent 



244 ECCE VERITAS. 

out to their work " without purse or scrip," on 
the principle laid down by the Great Teacher — 
" Freely ye have received ; freely give." The 
cause is self-sustaining, for it implies an enthu- 
siasm that will supply all necessary funds with- 
out bargain or sale of ministerial service or of 
Church sittings, and that will carry the Life- 
giving Word to the ends of the world. 

Christ taught no speculative doctrines, made 
no conditions of salvation other than doing the 
will of God. " Do this and thou shalt live," was 
His reply to the man who would know of Him, 
what " he should do to inherit eternal life." He 
had first asked the man — "What is written in 
the law 1 " He answering said, " Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy 
neighbor as thyself"; and then Christ said — 

"Do THIS AISTD THOU SHALT LIVE." TMs with 

Him was the sole, essential thing. Character 
adjusted on this Principle, the world over, 
whether in Christendom or Heathendom, is that 
which God requires and accepts ; for it was re- 
ceived as the Christian Rule — " In every nation 
he t^mtfearetJi God and wor'ketli righteousness , 
is Accepted of Him." 

JS^ot even the Institution of the Sabbath rests 
on any authority of Cheist ; much less the first 
day of the week, called the " Lord's Day," as the 
time for its observance. He violated the Jewish 
Sabbath as sanctioned by the public opinion, by 
traveling on that day beyond the prescribed 
limits ; by healing on the day, and bidding the 



THE ABSOLUTE RELIGION. 245 

cnred man to carry away his bed ; to wlioin the 

Jews, meeting Mm, said — " It is not lawful for 
thee to carry tliy bed on the Sabbath day." His 
disciples, on the Sabbath, "plucked the ears of 
corn and eat them"; whereupon the Pharisees 
said : " Why do ye that which is not lawful to 
do on the Sabbath days ? " Christ replied : " Have 
ye not read so much as this, what David did, 
when himself was an hungered, and they which 
were with him ; how he went into the House of 
God, and did take and eat the showbread, and 
gave also to them who were ^vith him ; which it 
is not lawful to eat but for the Priests alone"; 
and added : " The Sabbath was made for man^ 
and not man for the Sabbath : therefore, the Son 
of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath day." His 
mission was for the salvation of man, and all 
things, even the Sabbath, must subserve that 
essential purpose. So, He farther said : " Had ye 
known what this meaneth, 'I will have mercy 
and not sacrifice,'' ye would not have condemned 
the guiltless," — meaning Himself. 

Thus He abolished the Jewish statute of the 
Sabbath, and made the Institution to repose, like 
every work and duty, on the Law of Love, which 
"worketh no ill to one's neighbor," either by 
doing him ^vrong, or neglecting a beneficent 
Institution, as is the Sabbath. A Sabbath Day, 
at short intervals, for rest, recreation, and moral, 
intellectual, and religious purposes, is based in 
the necessities of man. Especially is it divinely 
beneficent to the laboring poor. But the day of 



246 ECCE VERITAS. 

its observance is a matter of expediency, thongh 
uniformity on some one day is very desirable for 
the convenience of society. In reference to its 
observance by the members of Christ's kingdom, 
they, in this as every other duty, are a law unto 
themselves — " written not on tables of stone, but 
on fleshly Tables of the Heart"; according to the 
word of God — "I will put My laws into their 
minds, and write them in their hearts ; and they 
shall not teach every man his neighbor saying, 
know the Lord : for all shall know Me, from the 
least to the greatest." 

The Law of the Ten Commandments was a 
part of the Statutory Code for the government 
of Israel. But, as they cover principles of uni- 
versal obligation, their spirit is carried into the 
"New Dispensation, which embodies itself in the 
Law of Love, which is the Law of that Dispensa- 
tion. This spirit of Love is what upholds the 
Sabbath in its essential elements as an Institu- 
tion of Humanity ; and thus it was that Christ, 
who stood for Humanity, claimed to be " Loed 
even of the Sabbath Day." 

So, when Christ proclaimed the Love of God 
and our JSTeighbor, on which " hang all the Law 
and the Prophets," the Sum of Religion, He 
swept away every dogma, every speculation, 
every ordinance, and rite, the hierarchy and its 
authority, every prescriptive rule, and every 
form of sensuous worship ; setting free the soul, 
establishing private judgment, enthroning the 
conscience, exalting the reason to its supreme 



THE ABSOLUTE RELIGION. 247 

place, and making man the child of God through 
Choice of the Truth. Thus He made Eeligion 
Absolute — one and the same for every age and 
for every race ; and, as Mr. Renan says, " If other 
planets have inhabitants endowed with reason 
and morality, their religion cannot be different. " 

To this, all the Prophets and Apostles, and all 
great souls, beyond the sway of ecclesiasticism, 
give witness. JSTot to detail proof of this state- 
ment, we will give one that may well stand for 
all — one from each of the Dispensations. The 
Prophet MicAH says : " He hath showed thee, 
O man, what is good ; and what doth the Loed 
require of thee, but to Do Justly, and Love 
Meecy, and to wallc Humbly with thy God ? " 
And Paul supplements the Prophet thus : 
" Glory, honor, and peace, to every soul that 
WoEKETH Good ; to the Jew and also to the 
Gentile ; for there is no respect of persons with 
God ; (For not the hearers of the Law are just 
before God, but the Doees of the Law shall be 
justified. For when the Gentiles do by nature 
the things written in the Law, these having not 
the Law, are a Law unto themselves ; who show 
the work of the Law written in their hearts, 
their conscience also bearing witness, and their 
thoughts the meanwhile accusing or excusing 
one another ;) In the day when God shall judge 
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." 

Here the Law of Righteousness, which is the 
Law of Love ; (for " all the Law is fulfilled in one 
word, even in this, ' Thou shalt love thy neighbor 



248 ECCE VERITAS. 

as thyself,' " as is affirmed by this same Apostle), 
is declared to be one and the same for all nations, 
and within the possibility of all to be obeyed, 
and by which all, alike, will be judged — no other 
test of character but Love. This is what Jesus 
Cheist taught, and nothing but this. Is this not 
Exclusive and Absolute ? 

Renan, quoting the words—" The hour cometh 
when neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusa- 
lem shall ye worship the Father. But the hour 
cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers 
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, 
for the Father seeketh such to worship Him " — 
makes the following comment on this saying of 
the Great Teacher : " Here He, for the first time, 
gave utterance to the idea upon which shall rest 
the edifice of the Everlasting Religion. He 
founded the pure worship of no age, of no clime, 
which shall be that of all lofty souls to the end 
of time. Kot only was this Religion, that day, 
the benign religion of Humanity, but it was the 
Absolute Religioin' : and if other planets have 
inhabitants endowed with reason and morality, 
their religion cannot be diJfferentfrom that which 
Jesus proclaimed at Jacob's Well." 

Again, he says : " His was a pure worship, a 
religion without priests, and without external 
practices, reposing entirely on the feelings of the 
heart." " Never was any man less a priest than 
Jesus ; never more an enemy of the forms which 
stifle religion. By that He has laid an eternal 
rock, the corner-stone of True Religion. An 



THE ABSOLUTE RELIGION. 249 

idea absolutely new ; an idea of worship fonnded 
in purity of the heart and hnman fraternity, 
made through Him an entrance into the world ; 
an idea so elevated that the church, upon this 
point, was completely to betray His intentions, 
and that, in our days, but few souls are capable 
of comprehending it." 

He also has this : " Through the attraction of 
a religion disengaged from all external forms, it 
is that Christianity has enchanted lofty souls." 
"We should search the Gospel in vain for a 
religious rite commanded by Jesus." " Baptism 
was incidental — of secondary importance. " 

This, that we have quoted above, is from one, 
it may be said, who, though a very unprejudiced 
writer, but of decided opinions, is not deemed 
orthodox, and therefore, perhaps, not to be 
thought, in what he says, of much weight on a 
question like that now under discussion. So we 
now give the views of one within the ecclesias- 
tical enclosure, a clergyman and D.D. of the 
Church of England, Mr. Cunningham Geikie, 
and who, on that account, may be heard, pos- 
sibly, with greater favor. Mr. Geikie, speaking 
of the Sermon on the Mount, in his late work on 
the Life of Christ, says : " It was the first proc- 
lamation of a universal religion, and, as such, an 
event unique in the history of mankind. A new 
spiritual kingdom of filial love and obedience 
was called into existence. The new kingdom is 
to be founded only on righteousness and love, 
untrammelled by outward rules ; with no restric- 
11* 



250 ECCE VERITAS. 

tion except that of character and conduct. For 
the first time in the history of religion, commnn- 
ion is founded without a priesthood, or offer- 
ing, or a Temple, or ceremonial service ; without 
symbolical worship, or a visible sanctuary. There 
is an utter absence of everything external or 
sensuous. The grand spiritual truths of absolute 
religious freedom, love, and righteousness alone 
are heard. In the pure words of Herder, ' Chris- 
tianity was founded in direct opposition to the 
stupid dependence on customs, formulas, and 
empty usages. Christ made religion spiritual 
instead of ceremonial and external ; universal 
instead of local. He gave us the magnificent 
dowry of a faith in One Common Father of the 
whole human race, and thus of a world-wide 
Brotherhood of all mankind. He scattered 
abroad the germs of a heavenly life by His 
fundamental requirements of love to God and 
our JN'eighbor. All reforms of individual and 
public life lie veiled in these principles, awaiting 
the advance of our moral sense to apprehend 
them and apply them. They have already given 
freedom to the slave ; raised woman ; purified 
morals ; mitigated war ; created liberty ; and 
made humanity a growing force in things pri- 
vate, civil, and political.' " 

Again he says : " Eites and ceremonies are 
only helps for simple ages. The Kingdom of 
God has outgrown them. The truth must, hence- 
forth, stand alone, appealing to the spirit with- 
out such outward aids. The Kingdom of God, 



THE ABSOLUTE RELIGION, 251 

wMch is for all times and races, knows only a 
^ worship in spirit and in tnitli.' " 

Christ, as we have often said in this investiga- 
tion, deals with Principles both in the abstract 
and concrete; and appeals to the hnman in- 
tuitions, and thus adapts His teachings to the 
humble and the unlearned equally as to the 
erudite, and, even more so, as from their very 
simplicity, they are " hidden from the wise and 
prudent, but revealed unto habes " — the un- 
prejudiced, the teachable, and child-like — as 
Jesus, Himself, declares. If men were obliged 
to seek spiritual light and truth in the old 
Pagan philosophies and religions ; or even in 
modern philosophers and speculative religious 
writers, the rule would be reversed, and truth 
would become accessible, if found at all, to only 
the wise and learned, while the unlettered must 
grope in the dark, and miss it at last. 

In Christ's system we have all spiritual truth 
and nothing but the truth, addressing itself to 
the conscience, consciousness, and reason of man- 
kind ; adapting itself to all peoples, to all con- 
ditions, and to all times ; covering every human 
duty of every relation, and meeting every spirit- 
ual and moral demand of the soul and of society. 
Christ's Eeligion is a revelation of God, and of 
man's relation to God ; of the Truth, and man's 
relation to Truth ; of man, and men's relation to 
one another ; of man's spiritual malady, and its 
remedy ; of man's spiritual necessity, and its 
supply ; of man's duty, and its law ; of the prin- 



252 ECCE VERITAS. 

ciple of moral distinction, of cliaracter, and of 
the law of regeneration and everlasting life. 
And, as sucli a revelation, it is without stint, 
without excess, and without error. Again, we 
ask, is not this the Absolute Religion ? You 
may call it Christianity or by another name. 
We think Christ will not be offended by the 
change. He who did not give His name to His 
own system ; who " sought not His own glory," 
but willingly set Himself personally aside to 
disarm objection, if necessary, that the Truth 
alone might appear, would be the last to stand 
for a Name, if the Prustciple He lived for and 
died to uphold, is welcomed to the business and 
bosoms of men. But if He would not be tena- 
cious of the name, in the same spirit, no lover of 
truth should desire to abolish it ; and we think 
not even an Asiatic, baptized into the Truth, 
when he came to know that Christ's Teachings 
are that Truth in the most comprehensive sense, 
and Christ Himself its most perfect Embodiment 
and Human Eepresentative, would desire to 
do so, even were the thing possible, which, doubt- 
less, it is not. It is manifestly true, as Mr. 
E-ENAN says, that " Christ is so the Corner- 
stone of Humanity, that to tear His Name from 
this world would be to rend it to its foundations." 
In Christ's Christianity, we finally declare, — 
We have a Religion that proclaims the One Only 
and True God, and His authority alone Supreme. 
We have a Religion in which the Truth is the 
sole ground of piety, and righteousness of char- 



THE ABSOLUTE RELIGION. 253 

acter the sole requirement of the cliildren of 
men. We have a Religion that interposes no 
official censor between man and his God, but 
makes man, himself, the judge of what is Right, 
and enforces the Right as the one duty and 
necessity of his present and eternal state. We 
have a Religion that proclaims the One Heavenly 
Father, and the one Brotherhood of man, and 
makes Love the sole Supreme Law of that Bro- 
therhood. We have a Religion whose first and 
highest duty is Self- Sacrifice, and whose fraternal 
law is, — " Bear ye one another's burdens, and so 
fulfill the law of Christ." We have a Religion 
that requires no Temple in which to display 
it with sensuous rites and ceremonies, with a 
priestly hierarchy to superintend ; but a Religion 
that embraces the " True Worshippers, who wor- 
ship the Father in spirit and in truth," whose 
Temple is everywhere, whose Altar is the up- 
right Heart, whose offering is Love, and each 
his own officiating priest, anointed by God 
alone, and consecrated by the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost, a " holy priesthood," to " offer up 
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus 
Christ." 

Once more we ask, have we not here the Abso- 
lute Religion ? What will you take from it 
to make it more perfect ? What will you add to 
it to make it more complete, more universal, 
more the religion of humanity ? If you embody 
all the wisdom, philosophy, and truth of all the 
ancient and modern philosophical and religious 



254 ECCE VERITAS. 

writers, will you liave constructed a Theism, 
Divine Faith, System of Precepts and Principles, 
that will transcend, that will equal, that will 
even approach the Christianity of Christ, in its 
teachings of the One Only and True God ? the 
One Law of Love ? the One Baptism of the 
Spirit of Holiness ? the one Brotherhood of man, 
and the One Sacrifice of Self for mankind ? In 
comparison of this, methinks your System would 
be as the glimmering of a midnight star to the 
blazing of the mid-day Suis". 

Finally, let it be said, — Christ is the Su- 
preme , Teacher of Truth, and sweeps His Re- 
ligion of everything extrinsic of That ; and, 
therefore, makes His Religion a Unity — One and 
universal, the Religion of all Humanity ; and 
hence the ABSOLUTE RELIGIOIN". 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE PROGRESS AND TRIUMPH OF CHRIST'S 
KINGDOM. 

Such a Religion as that whicli Christ founded; 
a Religion so furnished, so represented by One 
whose Spirit, Character, and Life were each a 
perfect expression of it, and who gave Himself 
to suffering and Martyrdom in its vindication ; 
which, from its nature, rallies all the Spiritual 
Forces — " all power in Heaven and in Earth," as 
Christ declares — must live and prevail, and its 
triumph must be certain. 

The false and carnal views of the Jewish nation 
in respect to the Kingdom of Messiah, aroused 
their hostility to Christ and His cause, and they 
put Him to death ; and, had it been possible, 
would have blocked His mission and destroyed 
it. The Asiatic, the Greek, and the Roman 
world were steeped in idolatry, mythology, and 
superstitions, while the great men and philos- 
ophers were too wise in their own" conceits to 
trouble themselves about the Jewish Reformer ; 
and only when brought into knowledge of Him, 
after His death, through His Heralds, did they 
deign, to notice Him at all, and then only to 

(255) 



256 ECCE VERITAS. 

scoff at the idea of a crucified Leader, whicli, as 
Paul says, "was to tlie Greeks, foolislmess"; but 
" to them that are called, Cheist the Power of 
God, and the Wisdom of God ; because the fool- 
ishness of God is wiser than men ; and the weak- 
ness of God is stronger than men." " For ye see 
our calling, brethren, that not many wise men, 
after the flesh, are called ; not many mighty, not 
many noble, are called : But God hath chosen the 
foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; 
and hath chosen the weak things of the world to 
confound the mighty ; and base things of the 
world, and things which are despised hath God 
chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring 
to naught the things that are: that no flesh 
should glory in His presence." 

The " Gospel became the power of God unto 
salvation" from the first. The rapidity of its 
spread in the East and along the populous high- 
way of the Mediterranean, as far as Rome, and even 
to the Pillars of Hercules, and then to Britain, 
was the result of that Divine Power that attended 
it, and swayed the souls of men. If the com- 
paratively peaceful condition of the Roman Em- 
pire ; the fact of the Mediterranean being the 
highway of Western travel, and that colonies of 
Jews had planted themselves on its shores, from 
whom the first Christian converts were to be 
made, to extend, almost simultaneously to Greeks 
and Romans ; and if civilization, such as existed 
in Greece and Rome, facilitated the work of the 
Evangelists — if these circumstances contributed 



CHRIST S KINGDOM. 257 

to the progress of Christianity, it did not depend 
upon them nor any other circumstances for its 
advance and victory, but was to be effected, if 
necessary, in spite of them ; for the " Gospel was 
the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God." It 
must be so a priori. The inherent vitality and 
power of Christ's Truth was irresistible. 

Mr. Eeistaist, in his " The Apostles," says : " Had 
the Apostles been placed in the presence of an 
independent Asia Minor, of a Greece or an Italy 
divided into a hundred little Republics ; of a 
Gaul, Spain, Africa ; of Egypt with her ancient 
institutions, we cannot conceive of their succeed- 
ing, or even imagine that such a project could 
have been seriously entertained." 

How does this comport with the omnipotence 
of Teuth, which was the foundation of Christ's 
cause and the guaranty of its triumph? How 
with that investment of "all power in Heaven 
and Earth," of which Christ speaks, and in refer- 
ence to this very end? How with what Mr. 
Renan, himself, says of Him in his " Life of 
Jesus " ? His words are — " The conviction that 
He was to bring about the reign of God, took 
absolute possession of Him. The Heavens, the 
Earth, all Nature, are only instruments to 
Him." How in this passage ? — " Jesus had a will 
to uphold truth ; and He has. He has directed 
the destinies of Humanity for 1,800 years, and is 
destined to direct it more and more in all future 
ages." Or, in this ? — " Thou shalt become the 
corner-stone of Humanity so entirely that to tear 



258 ECCE VERITAS. 

thy name from the world, would rend it to its 
foundations." 

How then could the social, civil, and commer- 
cial obstructions of the peoples to be reached by 
the Gospel, retard its forward movement, much 
less prevent its final triumph? Said Christ — 
" On this KocK (His Teuth and Messiahship) 
will I build my church, and the gates of Hell 
shall not prevail against it"; and it is and shall 
be so. ]S"either Pagan religions, nor Grecian 
philosophy, nor Jewish madness, nor war instead 
of peace, nor lack of Highways of intercourse, 
nor any nor all other causes that might be fatal 
to mere human plans and devices, could, for one 
moment, render uncertain the work of Christ, or 
render doubtful its victorious result. 

The Disciples were to tarry at Jerusalem, till 
endowed with the gift of the Holy Ghost. When 
that Divine Unction came upon them and took 
possession of them, they went forth to their 
great work, beginning at Jerusalem, where many 
thousands were speedily recruited to the cause. 
The zeal and enthusiasm of the Evangelists soon 
carried it into Syria, Asia Minor, the Islands of 
Greece, and to Athens, the home of Socrates and 
Plato ; thence to Eome, and even into " Csesar's 
household"; and soon as far West as Gaul, and 
Spain ; and even the Mediterranean coast of 
Africa, in many places, had witnessed the power 
of the Gospel ; and all this in less than a hun- 
dred years from the death of the Founder of this 
Divine Religion. 



CUEIST'S KINGDOM. 259 

This is remarkable when we consider the diflS.- 
culties to be overcome, and the instruments em- 
ployed in carrying forward the work. Jewish 
prejudice and hate ; the power of Pagan idol- 
atry ; the pride of Grecian philosophy ; and the 
ignorance, superstition, and slavery of the masses, 
all had to be met and conquered. Paul declared 
that ^'Christ crucified was to the Jews, a stum- 
bling-block, and to the Greeks, foolishness." 
The Jews blasphemed the Crucified, and the 
Greeks scoffed at the idea of such a One being a 
Divine Deliverer. The idolatrous and degraded 
multitude had " changed the glory of God into 
an image," and "the truth of God into a lie," 
and had " given themselves up to vile affections, 
being filled with all unrighteousness, without 
natural affection, implacable and unmerciful"; 
which is Paul's description of the moral con- 
dition of the Gentile world, where the achieve- 
ments of Christianity were principally to be 
made. 

But speedily " Christ ais"d Him Ceucified " 
(an expression that stood for His Cause, which, 
in its first action, culminated on the Ceoss, where 
its glories concentred and radiated as from a 
Focal Point), became the "Power of God, and 
the Wisdom of God " to many millions who glad- 
ly welcomed the Teuth. Yet the FOUIS^DEE, 
of this Cause was, in His historical character, the 
son of a Jewish Carpenter, and its first apostles 
and missionaries, except Paul and ApoUos, 
and perhaps a few others, were unendowed 



260 ECCE VERITAS, 

with either Hebrew or Grecian erudition, while 
they were to be confronted by both. These 
Mechanics and Fishermen were persecuted by 
religious hostility and by the civil power, and 
all of the first twelve, except John, like their 
Master, suffered martyrdom for the Truth they 
welcomed and proclaimed. Such a record of 
persecution, of tragic death, of inadequate visible 
means to the end, and yet of such success, is 
without a parallel in the history of any moral 
cause since the world began ; and demonstrates 
that the Eternal Forces were at its back — that 
its Propagators wrought by the Power of God. 
The extension of the Kingdom of God and its 
ultimate triumph in universal and everlasting 
sway, is clearly seen by all who occupy the 
plane to comprehend its Principle, who experi- 
mentally know the power of that Principle, and 
see that it is linked with the Throne of God. 
Such, from their moral elevation, possessing the 
light of Seees, like the Christ Himself, see it as 
a thing accomplished. If Christ saw it clearer 
than others, it was because of His superior 
righteousness and higher spiritual elevation — 
because " anointed with the oil of gladness above 
His fellows." He, from the true Pisgah, sweep- 
ing with His vision the Canaan of the Spiritual 
Conquest and Possession, exclaims, — " / beheld 
SA.TAIT as liglitning fall from JieaDen^^ — a figu- 
rative expression for the fall of the adverse 
Forces from the Seats of Power. Hence Paul : 
"We wrestle against principalities, against pow- 



CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 261 

ers, against the rulers of the darkness of this 
world, and against spiritual wickedness in high 
places." These powers are to give way. Upon 
the Rock of Truth Christ has founded His King- 
dom, and the " Gates of Hell shall not prevail 
against it." It shall blend the good of all things 
with itself, as it comprehends it all ; shall make 
tributary to its purpose all true literature, philos- 
ophy and science, and all the inventions of 
genius ; — all the Forces of secondary Causes, and 
so shall sweep on over the earth, and down the 
track of time, working more and more the ame- 
lioration of Human Society ; leavening its insti- 
tutions with its divine spirit, and bringing into 
existence the Democratic Fraternity through the 
reform of governments, or the destruction of in- 
corrigible ones by the application of the Law of 
Eetribution, as we have seen in the downfall of 
the Roman Empire, the wane of Islamism, and 
the now prospective erasure of the Ottoman 
Power from the map of Europe. The Principle 
and Spirit of Christ's Kingdom have already abol- 
ished Slavery well-nigh throughout the world ; 
mitigated war; brought the nations into closer 
fraternity ; bettered the condition of the laboring 
poor ; elevated woman ; founded institutions of 
health, charity, and the prevention of poverty 
and crime, and made provision for nearly uni- 
versal education in all the countries that have 
been brought under its power. 

But the regeneration of society is not to be 
done in masses. The foundation of the con- 



262 ECCE VERITAS. 

fraternity must be readied by reforming tlie in- 
dividuals — the nnits. This is Christ's method — 
" Make the tree good, and the fruit will be 
good." The philosophy of Christ is, purify, re- 
deem the units. Plant the law of Love in the 
individual heart. Undertake to organize selfish 
men, your organization may temporarily succeed, 
but it must ultimately fail, for selfishness is con- 
flict and disruption. " Love is the fulfilling of 
the Law," — ^the cure of selfishness and the bond 
of union, where " all are brethren, and the chief- 
est the servant of all." This is Christian frater- 
nity. This is what Christ offers to do for men ; 
for individuals first, and then combine them in a 
world-wide Divine Democratic Society. No re- 
ligion but His can achieve it. Men will flounder 
for relief by other means, but flounder in vain. 
Society and government may resort to expedients 
to evade the necessary reform ; but justice will 
assert itself ; the right will utter its demand, 
and there shall be no rest for the individual, or 
for society till each shall "Learn of Cheist"; 
and then shall they "find rest to their souls. ^^ 

But onward, still onward shall the power of 
Christ's Principles advance ; and now, as at the 
first, the cry of "Christ Crucified" shall be 
the " Power of God unto salvation to every one 
that receiveth the Truth" that the Cross of 
Christ symbolized. O, DIYUSTE EEGEl^EEA- 
TOR, " go forth from conquering to co]S"quer " ! 

But there are two stages of the Kingdom of 
Christ. The first consists in the diffusion of its 



CHBIST'S KINGDOM. 263 

Principles ; and the second in its Visible Organi- 
zation. The power of the Cross of Christ and 
the work it is to accomplish in the regeneration 
of man and society, appertain to a state pre- 
liminary and preparatory to the actual establish- 
ment of Christ's kingdom, which is to be at the 
termination of this, and the opening of the "age 
TO COME." Jesus said: "The Son of Man shall 
come in His glory, and all the holy angels with 
Him; tTien shall He sit on the throne of His 
glory." How far His Gospel, in the preliminary 
dispensation, was to proceed in the subordination 
of souls to the sway of its principles, before that 
event, we know not. What Jesus did say, em- 
phatically, was this : " This Gospel of the King- 
dom shall be preached in all the world for a 
witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end 
comeP He also said : "Of that day and hour 
knoweth no man, no, not the angels in Heaven, 
neither the Son, but My Father only." So, the 
organized kingdom is both future, and the time 
of its establishment unknown. " The times and 
the seasons the Father hath put in His own 
power." 

The inspiration of the old Prophets we assume, 
from the known fulfillment of many of their pre- 
dictions, and from the intrinsic truth of what 
they have said respecting God and the Law of 
righteousness. They have discoursed largely of 
Messiah's Kingdom, as we have seen in what we 
have said of the Messiahship of Christ ; and we 
now avail ourself, more extensively, of what they 



264 . ECCE VERITAS. 

have said respecting the natnre, progress, and 
final triumph of that kingdom. 

The kingdom of Christ was to be visible and 
literal in its final issue. It was to be the reg- 
ularly organized, reconstructed throne of His 
father, David. David had proclaimed His reign, 
speaking as in the words of God, as follows : 
" Yet have I set My king upon My Holy Hill of 
Zion." The King is then personified and says : 
" I will declare the decree ; the Lord said unto 
Me, Thou art My Son ; this day have I begotten 
Thee. Ask of Me and I shall give Thee the 
heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost 
parts of the earth for Thy possession. Thou 
shalt break them with a rod of iron ; Thou shalt 
dash them to pieces as a potter's vessel." Again, 
the Psalmist says : " The Lord said unto my 
Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand until I make 
Thine enemies Thy footstool." And again : 
"Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: the 
Sceptre of Thy Kingdom is a right sceptre. 
Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wicked- 
ness ; therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed 
Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fel- 
lows." By the mouth of Nathan God said to 
David : " Thy house and thy kingdom shall be 
established forever " (II. Sam.) David refers to 
this in Ps. cxxxii., thus : " The Lord hath sworn 
in truth unto David ; He will not turn from it ; 
of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy 
throne." " There will I make the Horn of David 
to bud." 



CHBIST'S KINGDOM. 265 

That all this is spoken of Christ is quite man- 
ifest, for the language, in most part, can apply 
to no other ; and only apply to Him in His King- 
dom when made gloriously visible in the age to 
come. Peter in Acts ii., speaking of these mat- 
ters, as referring to Christ, says : '^ David speak- 
eth concerning Him, I foresaw the Lord always 
before my face. Therefore did my heart rejoice, 
because Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, 
neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see 
corruj)tion. Thou hast made known to me the 
way of life." He then adds : " Men and breth- 
ren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch 
David, that he is both dead and buried, and his 
sepulchre is with us to this day. Therefore, 
being a prophet, and knowing that God had 
sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of 
Ms loins He would raise up Cheist to sit on his 
throne ; he, seeing this before, spake of the res- 
urrection of Christ, that His soul was not left 
in hell (the grave), neither His flesh did see 
corruption. This Jesus hath GrOD raised up, 
whereof we are witnesses. David is not ascend- 
ed into the Heavens ; but he saith, himself, the 
LoED said unto my Lord, sit Thou at My right 
hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool." 

Paul, at Antioch, speaking to the brethren 
and Jewish hearers there, takes the same view. 
He says of the death of Christ by the order of 
Pilate : " But God raised Him from the dead, 
and He was seen many days of them who came 
up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are 
12 



266 ECCE VERITAS. 

witnesses unto the people. And we declare 
unto you glad tidings, liow that the promise 
which was made to the fathers, God hath fulfill- 
ed, in that He hath raised up Jesus again, as it 
is also written in the Second Psalm : Thou art 
My Son ; this day have I begotten Thee. , And 
as concerning that He raised Him up from the 
dead, now no more to return to corruption, He 
said on this wise : I will give you the sure 
mercies of David. Wherefore He saith also in 
another Psalm (Ps. xvi.) : Thou shalt not suffer 
Thy Holy One to see corruption. For David, 
after he had served his generation, fell asleep 
and was laid with his fathers, and saw corrup- 
tion. But He whom God raised up again, saw 
no corruption." "Therefore," saith Peter, in his 
argument, " let all the house of Israel know, as- 
suredly, that God hath made that same Jesus 
whom ye have crucified, both Loed and Christ " 
— the anointed Messiah. 

If these scriptures, on which both Peter and 
Paul have commented, are to be considered of 
divine authority, of which there should be no 
doubt, as the resurrection of Christ is a well- 
attested fact, and the quotations exactly fit the 
case, then the argument of both Apostles is this : 
God had promised to David to give him an Heir 
to sit upon his throne forever. But that throne 
had fallen and lain vacant for hundreds of years. 
Christ was that Heir, and He had been slain. 
But God had raised Him from the dead for this 
very purpose to sit upon the throne of His father 



CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 267 

David, that the promise miglit not fail. He had 
taken His place " at the right hand of God," 
there to remain " till His enemies should be 
made His footstool"; at which time, as Christ, 
Himself, says, " He wonld come in His glory, and 
all the holy angels with Him ; and tlien wonld 
He sit on the throne of His glory " — the Recon- 
strncted Throne of His father, David. 

So it was Cheist, as the Resurrected and Im- 
mortal Son of God and Son of David, that was to 
reign ; which wonld properly begin at His second 
coming, the preliminary period being His reign 
in the Spirit, while preparing, as James said, " a 
people from among the Gentiles for His name." 
Peter declared, in the course of his argument, 
that the oath of God to David, was that " accord- 
ing to the JiesJi, He would raise up Christ to sit 
on his throne." This made the resurrection of 
Christ necessary that in His Body, redeemed 
from the grave, " now to die no more," He might 
take the throne of David in Peesoi^, after His 
reign in tlie Spirit. 

In the above argument of the two Apostles, if 
the facts are as they maintained, then, that Jesus 
is to come again and reign on the earth in per- 
son, over the restored kingdom of Israel, is 
demonstrated ; and, as it is to begin by His 
" making His enemies His footstool " — " dashing 
them to pieces as a potter's vessel," and so clear- 
ing the ground for "bringing in everlasting 
righteousness," and establishing " peace as long 
as the moon endureth," the Adveis't and Reign 
must be Premillennial. 



268 ECCE VERITAS. 

Eespecting the falling of the Kingdom of Israel 
and its rehabilitation by Christ, Ezekiel, the 
Prophet, had said : " And thou profane and 
wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, 
when iniquity shall have an end: Thus saith 
the Lord God ; remove the diadem, take off the 
crown ; this shall not be the same : Exalt him 
that is of low degree, and abase him that is high. 
I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall 
be no more, until He come whose right it is, and 
Itoill give it to Him." 

Jacob had said : " The sceptre shall not depart 
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his 
feet, until Shilo (the Peace-maker ; or Shiloach, 
the Sent) come ; and to Him shall the gathering 
of the people be." At the Coming of Christ in 
the flesh Jewish sovereignty had ceased for nearly 
four hundred years, and only a turbulent semi- 
autonomy had taken the place of departed royalty. 
At length the Roman Power dispensed her civil 
law, and finally abolished the nation itself. 

This being the Jewish situation at the first ad- 
vent, she looked for Messiah to come and break 
the Roman yoke, and restore the ancient mon- 
archy ; and readily would she have hailed Christ 
for a deliverer, had He appeared with a mailed 
hand, ready to lead her armies to conquest by 
the sword. Even the disciples of Christ felt the 
effect of this lingering tradition. So they said 
to the Master : " Wilt Thou at this time restore 
the kingdom to Israel ? " He replies : " It is not 
for you to know the times or the seasons that 



CHRISrS KINGDOM. 269 

the Father hath put in His own power." " But 
ye shall be witnesses unto Me to the uttermost 
parts of the earth." This was plainly answering 
their question — no, not now ; but it would be 
done at the time appointed by the Father. It 
was a fact to be accomplished, and not to be 
merged in a spiritual dispensation. 

The Prophet Daniel brings into view the time 
of the ushering in of Christ's kingdom, by trac- 
ing the history of the kingdoms preceding it, 
under the symbol of an Image and four symboli- 
cal Beasts ; the Image and the Beasts meaning 
the same things, viz. : the then existing Baby- 
lonian Empire, and the three great successive 
empires that were to follow it, reaching to the 
time of the overthrow of the fourth and last, and 
the introduction of a fifth — "the kingdom of 
the God of Heaven, which shall never be de- 
stroyed." 

The Image had a head of gold, breast and arms 
of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, 
and feet part iron and part clay. Daniel said to 
Nebuchadnezzar — " Thou art this head of gold. 
After thee shall arise another kingdom, and 
another third kingdom, which shall bear rule 
over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom 
shall be strong as iron. And as the feet and toes 
were part iron and part clay, the kingdom shall be 
divided." In the divided state of this fourth king- 
dom he says : " The stone that was cut out of the 
mountain without hands," — for this was part of 
the vision, and another symbol — " shall smite the 



270 ECCE VERITAS. 

Image on its feet. Then was the iron, the clay, 
the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to 
pieces together, and became like the chaff of the 
summer threshing floors ; and the wind carried 
them away, and there was no place fonnd for 
them ; and the Stone that smote the Image be- 
came a great mountain and filled the whole 
earth." This Stone symbolized "the kingdom 
of the God of Heaven," " which shall never be 
destroyed," as he states in the interpretation of 
the symbols. 

The interpretation of the four Beasts is some- 
what more in detail than this of the Image. The 
four Beasts were a lion, a bear, a leopard, with 
four wings and four heads, and a fourth Beast, 
not named, but described as " dreadful and terri- 
ble, exceeding strong, and having great iron 
teeth, with which it devoured and break in pieces, 
and stamped the residue with its feet; and it 
had ten horns." There are other details, but 
this is sufficient for our purpose. 

These Beasts represent the Assyrian Empire, 
the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman 
Power. The four heads of the Leopard represent 
the four divisions of Alexander's kingdom among 
his four leading Captains, after his death. The 
fourth Beast, "dreadful and terrible," having 
"ten horns," can be no other but the Roman 
Power which swallowed up all the dominions of 
Alexander, and extended itself from the Indus 
in Asia to the farthest bounds of Europe in the 
West. The ten horns upon the head of this 



CHBIST'S KINGDOM. 271 

fourtli beast, show that the Roman GoYernment, 
after its division into the Eastern and Western 
Empires, — the iirst by the Ottoman Power, with 
its seat at Constantinople ; the Western by the 
Goths and Yandals, with Rome for the capital, — 
was to be still farther divided into ten kingdoms, 
as it was ; which, not only stood for the ten, bnt, 
doubtless, for all the governments and states that 
ultimately grew out of the decimated monster 
Empire. 

According to the statement of the Prophet, 
the fourth Power was to " destroy the holy peo- 
ple," the Jews, — so called because separated from 
others, — and was to " stand up against the Prince 
of princes "; which were literally done ; the first, 
by Titus and Yespasian in the siege of Jerusa- 
lem, and the dispersion of the nation ; the sec- 
ond, by Tiberius at the instance of his Procura- 
tor Pilate, in the crucifixion of Christ. 

At some time during the period of those divi- 
sions and subdivisions of the fourth kingdom, the 
Prophet tells us, " the God of Heaven shall set 
up a kingdom, which shall break in pieces and 
consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand 
forever." This agrees with God's promise to His 
Son in the second Psalm : " I ^vill give Thee the 
heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost 
parts of the earth for Thy possession ; Thou shalt 
break them with a rod of iron : Thou shalt dash 
them to pieces as a potter's vessel." 

Again, the Prophet says : " Behold one like 
the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven. 



272 . ECCE VERITAS. 

and came to the Ancient of Days, and they 
brought Him near before Him : And there was 
given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, 
that all people, nations, and languages should 
serve Him : His dominion is an everlasting do- 
minion, which shall not pass away, and His king- 
dom that which shall not be destroyed." This 
is in harmony with Christ's description of His 
coming and kingdom, as given in the 24th of 
Matthew, in these words : " As the lightning 
Cometh out of the East, and shineth even unto 
the West: so shall the coming of the Son of 
Man be. And then shall the tribes of the earth 
mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man com- 
ing in the clouds of heaven with power and great 
glory. " And this from the 25th of Matthew : 
" When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, 
and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He 
sit on the throne of His glory : and before Him 
shall be gathered all nations." And 'this from 
Matthew 13th: "The Son of Man shall gather 
out of His kingdom all things that offend, and 
them which do iniquity; and then shall the 
righteous shine forth in the kingdom of their 
Father." And this from the 13th of Luke : 
" There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, 
when ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, 
and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall 
come from the East, and the West, and from the 
North, and from the South, and shall sit down 
in the kingdom of God." 



CHRISrS KINGDOM. 273 

TMs all goes to show that the proper manifesta- 
tion of Christ's kingdom, as " the Throne of His 
father David," is beyond the period of existing 
governments ; or, at least, coincident with the de- 
struction of those that remain " Bis foes " which 
are to be " dasJied to pieces as a potter's vessel," 
and "become B^is footstooU^ A kingdom, in 
which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the 
Prophets are to appear and take their places ; 
where " the righteous are to shine forth," com- 
ing from the four corners of the earth, as is de- 
clared by Christ in the text above just quoted, 
cannot be in the present Gospel age ; but must 
be when the saints of all ages take their places 
in it in glorified form. This is called by Christ 
the period of the '^ Regeneration ^ "Ye that 
have followed Me, in the RiraEisrEEATiON, when 
the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of His 
Glory, ye also shall sit upon thrones, judging the 
tribes of Israel." " And every one that hath for- 
saken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, 
or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My 
name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and 
shall inherit everlasting life." 

This period is called the Regeneration be- 
cause of the new state and order of things that 
shall then be established, when wicked and des- 
potic governments, like those that preceded it, 
shall have passed away ; "a king shall reign in 
righteousness," "the meek shall inherit the 
earth," and a Millennium of Peace and Love uni- 
versally prevail. 
12* 



274 ECCE VERITAS. 

The constitution and state of things under this 
visible reign of Messiah, when " the kingdoms of 
this world are become the kingdom of God and 
of His Christ," we partially know, from specific 
descriptions, but especially from the Principles 
of Christ, which are to be the foundation and 
practical realization of His reign. 

That Jerusalem is to be the Seat of His Gov- 
ernment is manifest, since it is " upon the Throne 
of His father David " that He is to sit. " Out of 
Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the 
Lord from Jerusalem ; and He shall Judge among 
the nations, and rebuke many people ; and they 
shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and 
their spears into pruning-hooks : nation shall 
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall 
they learn war any more." 

As to the features, more particularly, that the 
earth, society, and government must take on in 
such an unique and wonderful state of things, 
let us notice the following : 

There sJiall he the Regei^eratioi^ of the 
Physical earth. " The wilderness and the sol- 
itary places shall be glad ; and the desert shall 
rejoice and blossom as the rose." "The Lord 
shall comfort Zion ; He shall comfort all her 
waste places ; and He will make her wilderness 
like Eden, and her desert like the Garden of the 
Lord." "In the wilderness streams shall break 
out, and waters in the desert. And the parched 
ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land, 
springs of water ; in the habitation of dragons, 



CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 275 

shall be grass witli reeds and rushes." These 
are descriptions of great and general fertility. 
Scripture has spoken of it as a JS'ew Earth, and a 
restored Eden. It is said: "Nevertheless, we, 
according to his promise, look for new heavens 
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous- 
ness " (2 Peter iii. 13). 

While, in speaking of the future state, it were 
presumption to push our inquiries beyond the 
limits of revelation, it is both our privilege and 
our duty to avail ourselves of all the light afforded 
by this great luminary in respect to that consti- 
tution of things which is to succeed to the dis- 
solution of the present one. 

But upon this subject, even the light of revela- 
tion itself has been either nearly quenched, or, 
by a false principle of interpretation, perverted 
to sustain a system of etherealism by which the 
Scriptures have been made fco speak anything but 
the plain and obvious truth. 

It is our object in this work by a faithful ap- 
plication of those Scriptures bearing upon this 
point, to present in as clear a light as possible, 
the everlasting abode of Christ and His saints. 

At the third and fourth verses of the chapter 
from which the above Scripture is selected, the 
Apostle introduces a class of scoffers that should 
spring up in the last days, and deny the judg- 
ment advent of Christ, basing their denial on 
what they affirm to be a fact in nature: viz., 
" All things continue as they were from the be- 
ginning of the creation." Their argument is 



276 ECCE VERITAS. 

this : ]^o essential cliange lias hitherto taken 
place in Nature ; therefore none ever will. The 
Apostle, as if admitting the validity of this argu- 
ment, provided the premises be correct, denies 
the fact stated, and asserts to the contrary that 
the earth has undergone a mighty catastrophe 
by an ancient deluge, " whereby the world that 
then was, being overflowed with water, perished." 
This fact, sustained alike both by Scripture and 
geological science, these pMlosopMc scoffers are 
represented as being " willingly ignorant of." 

The Apostle having thus deprived the objectors 
of their own premises and turned upon them 
their argument, then proceeds to state the decree 
of God in respect to the destiny of JN'ature as at 
present organized. He says, "But the heavens 
and the earth, which are now, by the same word 
are kept in store reserved unto fire against the 
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 

The doctrine here seems to be, that, as the old 
world was adapted to destruction by a flood, so 
the present world, by the same word or wisdom 
of God, is reserved for conflagration, a fate cor- 
responding to its own peculiar character. He 
therefore adds, " The day of the Lord will come 
as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall 
pass away with a great noise, and the elements 
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also ; and 
the works that are therein shall be burned up." 

Here then are two great literal facts asserted 
upon divine authority. But lest his readers 
should think that he had cut oft the hope of a 



CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 277 

future life by asserting this violent and univer- 
sal dissolution of nature, tlie Apostle subjoins, 
'^ Nemrtheless^^ — notwithstanding the ruin of 
the present world, " we, according to His promise, 
look for new heavens and a new earth wherein 
dwelleth righteousness." 

JN'ow it is manifest that this promise secures 
as real and literal heavens and earth to succeed 
the termination of the age as those that already 
exist. But in the present instance we are not 
only free from the necessity of adopting a figura- 
tive sense, but the nature of the subject and the 
whole tenor of the context require a strictly literal 
interpretation and absolutely forbid any other. 

Was it a material world that was flooded Avith 
water \ So it is the solid earth with its atmos- 
pheric heavens that is to be dissolved in the fires 
of the last day. And as it is the solid matter of 
ISTature that is to be thus dissolved, so from that 
second chaos shall spring forth, at the fiat of 
God, another refined structure of magnificence 
and glory every way adapted to the new estate 
of man. 

If these New Heavens and ISTew Earth are 
merely symbolical of a temporal state of great 
moral and physical prosperity, then the " passing 
away of the heavens," the " dissolving of the ele- 
ments," " melting of the earth," and " burning up 
the works that are therein," are all only so many 
figures of speech denoting the moral, political, 
and scientific revolutions by which that day of 
glory is to be ushered in. It wiU then farther 



278 ECCE VERITAS. 

follow that the " standing out of the water and in 
the water of the old heavens and earth, whereby 
the world that then was, being overflowed with 
water, perished," is but the mystical language of 
the spirit to denote some ancient desolation of 
the moral world by a flood of iniquity and error ; 
which would not only involve a monstrous ab- 
surdity, but also a palpable denial of the Scripture 
account of the deluge. 

To such results are our spiritualizers pushed 
by their own principles. For tangible realities 
they give us metaphorical waters and spiritual 
fires, and a symbolical earth, and figurative 
heavens. But such interpretations, if carried 
out, would convert the whole Book of God into 
an enigma of no more value than the uncertain 
responses of a heathen oracle. 

The promise, then, must be literally fulfilled, 
and dying JNTature must be resuscitated into 
glorious life when He that sits upon the throne 
shall say, " Behold, I make all things new." 

" For this purpose was the Son of God man- 
ifested, that He might destroy the works of the 
devil " (1 John iii. 8). Now what are the works 
of the devil ? You will say, the fall of man, his 
condemnation and death. But is this all ? Was 
he not driven from the blooming bowers of 
Paradise, and was not that Paradise blasted, and 
the whole earth in like manner ? Gen. iii. 17, 18 : 
" Cursed is the ground for thy sake ; thorns and 
thistles shall it bring forth unto thee." Here 
then is the effect seen upon the whole inanimate 



CHEISrS KINGDOM. 279 

creation. All the elements of earth, air, and 
water have partaken of this fiat ; and following 
in its train we see nncnltivated deserts, and 
sterile mountains, and boundless fields of polar 
ice, and stagnant marshes, and howling wilder- 
nesses, while the more arable portions of the 
earth are crowded with noxious plants that cause 
it almost to elude the tiller's toil. In addition to 
this, we have hurricanes, and earthquakes, and 
volcanic eruptions, and inundations, and pesti- 
lences, and plagues — all attributed to satanic 
agency. And whether so or not, the facts re- 
main, and the evils shall be removed. 

Will not the Son of God accomplish the object 
of His mission ? Yes, " the prey shall be taken 
from the mighty," " the strong man armed shall 
be cast out of his palace by a stronger than he, 
his goods shall be despoiled," and not a relic of 
the presence or power of evil be left in all the 
Regenerated earth. A stroke of omnipotence 
shall blast the usurper and verify the immutable 
word of God, that " the seed of the woman shall 
bruise the serpent's head." 

God says, " Be ye glad and rejoice forever in 
that which I create ; for, behold, I create Jerusa- 
lem a rejoicing and her people a joy. And the 
voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, 
nor the voice of crying." _ 

The promise of this same thing was made to 
Abraham and his seed. Gen. xiii. 14, 15 : " And 
the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was sep- 
arated from him, lift up now thine eyes and look 



280 ECCE VERITAS. 

from the place where thou art^ northward, and 
southward, and eastward, and westward : for all 
the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, 
and to thy seed forever. " Again, the same is re- 
peated in Gen. xvii. 8 : " And I will give unto 
thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein 
thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an 
everlasting possession. " ISTow Paul explains this 
as a promise of the whole earth. E-om. iv. 13 : 
"The promise that he should be heir of the 
woELD, was not to Abraham or to his seed 
through the law." The original promise, then, 
had this extent. So Paul understood it ; so he 
affirms. But where was Abraham and his seed 
to possess this inheritance — ^in the world as it 
now is, or in the earth renewed ? Manifestly no- 
where but in the new creation. That Abraham 
never at any period of his lifetime inherited the 
land of promise is settled by the. Apostle Stephen 
in the 7th chapter of Acts, 2-5 : " And he said, 
men, brethren, and fathers, hearken ; The God of 
glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when 
he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Char- 
ran, and said unto him. Get thee out of thy coun- 
try, and from thy Idndred, and come into the 
land which I shall show thee. Then he came 
out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in 
Charran ; and from thence, when his father was 
dead, he removed him into this land wherein ye 
now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance 
in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on : yet 
he promised that he would give it to him for a 



CHRISrS KINGDOM. 281 

possession, and to Ms seed after Mm wlien as yet 
lie had no cMld." 

It is seen by this quotation that Abraham was 
to possess the land equally with his seed. The 
language is specific. '^He promised that he 
would give to HIM for a possession AND to his 
seed after him." Yet "he gave him NONE in- 
heritance in it ; no, not so much as to SET HIS 
FOOT ON." Hence Abraham must, in the 
"WoELD TO Come," receive the inheritance. 
Hence the world that forms the subject of the 
Abrahamic promise must succeed the resurrec- 
tion, and can be none other than the present one 
renewed, since it was the very land wlierein 
AbraJiam was a stranger, of which God said, 
" I will give it to thee and to thy seed after thee 
for an everlasting possession." The seed of 
Abraham are the saints of all ages : " For if ye 
be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and 
heirs according to the promise " (Gal. iii. 29). 

Now let us notice one more place where the 
promise of this great restitution is found. It is 
recorded in the eighth Psalm, as follows : " When 
I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, 
the moon and the stars that thou hast ordained ; 
what is man that thou art mindful of him ? or 
the son of man that thou visitest him? For 
thou hast made him a little lower than the angels ; 
and hast crowned him with glory and honor. 
Thou madest him to have dominion over the 
works of thy hands : Thou hast put all things 
under his feet : all sheep and oxen, yea, and the 



282 ECGE VERITAS. 

beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the 
fish of the sea, and whatever passeth through the 
paths of the seas." 

That this Psalm has no reference to any pres- 
ent subjection of the works of Nature to man, 
but relates wholly to the state of things in the 
future world, is placed beyond the shadow of 
doubt by the Apostle in the second chapter of 
Hebrews, where it is quoted to show the dignity 
of Jesus Christ and his superiority over the angels 
of God. Paul introduces it into his argument 
as follows : '' For unto the angels hath He not 
put in subjection the ' World to Come ' where- 
of we speak. But one in a certain place testified, 
saying, what is man that thou art mindful of 
him ? or the son of man that thou visitest him ? 
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels ; 
thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and 
didst set him over the works of thy hands : thou 
hast put all things in subjection under his feet. 
For in that He put all in subjection under him. 
He left nothing that is not put under him. But 
now we see not yet all things put under him." 

Having thus quoted the Psalm which asserts 
the actual subjection of all things under man, 
the Apostle at the same time declares that " now 
we see ISTOT YET all things put under him." 
And why ? Because he tells us it is the WORLD 
TO COME of which he is speaking, and of which 
the Psalmist speaks. Hence the promise can 
only be fulfilled in that world. 

The Apostle further tells us that it is Jesus 



CHBIST'S KINGDOM. 283 

who is " made a little lower than tlie angels, for 
the suffering of death crowned with glory and 
honor," to whom the promise primarily refers and 
in whom it is to be fulfilled ; and thus he estab- 
lishes the personal reign of Christ on the earth 
when the saints as " joint heirs with Him " will 
also have dominion. And that the whole is to 
be subsequent to the Second Advent is settled by 
Paul in 1 Cor. xv. 26, where he tells us that the 
last thing that is to be put under Christ is Death ; 
so His reign over all things cannot commence till 
" death shall be swallowed up in victory " of the 
glorified Saints over that last enemy. 

The literal fulfillment of this promise was 
seen dy the Mevelator in his vision of the future 
state. He says : 

"And I saw a great white throne, and him 
that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the 
heaven fled away ; and there was found no place 
for them " (Rev. xx. 11). " And I saw a N'ew 
Heaven and a JSTew Earth : for the first heaven 
and the first earth had passed away ; and there 
was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, 
new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of 
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her 
husband. And I heard a great voice out of 
heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is 
with men, and he mil dwell with them, and they 
shall be his people, and God himself shall be 
with them, and be their God. And God shall 
wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there 
shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying. 



284 ECCE VERITAS. 

neitlier shall there be any more pain; for the 
former things are passed away. And he that sat 
upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things 

NEW." 

In making " All THi]sras New," Supernatural 
Power must, indeed, be brought into requisition. 
But we may suppose a great part of the work of 
Regeneration will be effected by natural and 
artificial means. Consummate Inventions, car- 
ried to a higher degree of attainment than any- 
thing in the past, will be available and doubtless 
employed in the E'ew Dispensation, by wielding 
all the forces of Nature and applying them to 
Agriculture, Horticulture, Architecture, and 
whatever may beautify and adorn the New 
World, and " make the place of Messiah's feet 
glorious." Engineering wonders shall supply 
Drains for the wet places and Aqueducts for the 
desert ones. By their achievements "Yalleys 
will be exalted and mountains be made low, and 
in the Desert shall be made a Highway for our 
God." These, without other miracles, shall work 
the Regeneration; where "the wilderness shall 
be like Edeis", and the desert like the Gaedei^ of 
the LoED." Or, if miracles are needed, they 
shall not be wanting to make a perfect Abode 
for the KING and His Gloeified Subjects. 

The Kege]S"eeation shall include the Be- 
demption of Animals. The magic power of 
Peace and Love, embodied in a world of brothers, 
shall disarm the wild beasts of their ferocity, so 
that they v ill mingle familiarly with m^en. " The 



CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 285 

wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 
shall lie do^^Ti with the kid ; and the calf, and 
the young lion, and the fatling together ; and a 
little child shall lead them." " The cow and the 
bear shall feed ; their yonng ones shall lie down 
together ; and the lion shall eat straw like the 
ox." " The sucking child shall play on the hole 
of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his 
hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not 
hurt nor destroy in all my Holy Mountain." 

Animals, in innocence and peace were with 
Adam in Paradise before his lapse, and will be 
with Cheist, the " Second Adam," in the Re- 
GEis'EEATED world — the Paeadise Restoeed. 
As a matter of fact we see that the animal crea- 
tion are involved in the world's calamities, and 
to some extent in some way partake of the 
vicious qualities of man, though not responsible. 
How much they have lost in their capacity and 
faculties it is difficult to tell ; much no doubt. 
But in other respects the evil is manifest. How 
many millions are enslaved by their appetites, 
and driven by fierce passions, having neither 
judgment, nor gratitude, nor mercy. It is not 
merely the lion, the tiger, the wolf, the shark, 
the eagle, and the vulture that tear the flesh and 
crush the bones of their fellow animals, but 
whole tribes of insects are a prey to the innocent 
birds. The domestic animals also suffer from 
the cruelty of man : while the whole brute crea- 
tion, in common with the human race, are sub- 
ject to pain, disease, and death. 



ECCE VERITAS. 

Do not, theiij both the justice and benevolence 
of God require that they be restored? They 
have been made subject to this evil not for their 
own fault. Why, then, should not their condi- 
tion be reversed in the grand restitution of all 
things ? It will be. The work of Christ implies 
it ; the divine justice and mercy demand it. 

Paul declares in Rom. viii. 19-22 : " For the 
earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for 
the manifestation of the sons of Grod. For the 
creature was made subject to vanity, not will- 
ingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected 
the same in hope ; because the creature itself 
also shall be delivered from the bondage of cor- 
ruption into the glorious liberty of the children 
of God. For we know that the whole creation 
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until 
now." 

Here the Apostle specifies the creature in dis- 
tinction from the "sons of God." This phrase, 
" the creature," therefore covers the whole ani- 
mate and inanimate creation, which is repre- 
sented as " groaning and travailing together in 
pain" in consequence of the sin of man. But 
the creature is " subjected in Jiope,^^ waiting for 
the manifestation of the sons of God — ^that is, 
their glorification, when the brute creation also 
shall be delivered from the bondage of corrup- 
tion into the same glorious liberty, to partake, in 
their degree, of the glory and immortality of the 
New Earth. 

Henry's note on this place sustains this view. 



CHBISrS KINGDOM. 287 

He says : " By the creature here we understand, 
not as some do, the Gentile world, and their 
expectation of Christ and the Gospel, which is 
an exposition very foreign and forced ; bnt the 
whole frame of natnre, especially that of this 
lower world ; the whole creation, the compages 
of inanimate and sensible creatures ; which, be- 
cause of their harmony and mutual dependence, 
and because they all constitute and make up one 
world, are spoken of in the singular number, as 
tJie creature. The creature that is now thus 
burdened, shall at the time of the restitution of 
all things, he delimred from this bondage into 
the glorious liberty of the children of God; i. e., 
they shall no more be subject to vanity and cor- 
ruption, and the other fruits of the curse ; but, 
on the contrary, this lower world shall be re- 
newed ; when there will be new heavens, there 
will be a new earth, and there shall be a glory 
conferred upon all the creatures, which shall be 
(in the proportion of their natures) as suitable, 
and as great an advancement, as the glory of the 
children of God shall be to them. The creature 
doth therefore earnestly expect and wait for the 
manifestation of the children of God. At the 
second coming of Christ there will be a mani- 
festation of the children of God. And this re- 
demption of the creature is reserved till then ; 
for as it was with man and for man that they 
fell under the curse, so with man and for man 
they shall be delivered. All the curse and filth 
that now adheres to the creature, shall be done 



288 ECCE VERITAS. 

away then, when those that have suffered with 
Christ upon earth shall reign with Him upon 
earth." 

Mr. Wesley, in his sermon on "The Great 
Deliverance," says : " But will the ' creature,' will 
even the brute creation, always remain in this 
deplorable condition ? God forbid that we should 
affirm this ; yea, or even entertain such a thought ! 
While the 'whole creation groaneth together' 
(whether men attend or not), their groans are 
not dispersed in idle air, but enter into the ears 
of Him that made them. While His creatures 
'travail together in pain,' He knoweth all 
their pain, and is bringing them nearer and 
nearer to the birth, which shall be accomplished 
in its season. He seeth ' the earnest expectation ' 
wherewith the whole animated creation ' waiteth 
for ' that final ' manifestation of the sons of God '; 
in which ' they themselves also shall be delivered 
from the bondage of corruption, into a measure 
of the glorious liberty of the children of God.' 
Nothing can be more express : away with vulgar 
prejudices, and let the plain word of God take 
place. They shall be delivered from ' the bond- 
age of corruption, into glorious liberty'; even a 
measure, according as they are capable, of 'the 
liberty of the children of God.' " 

There shall be the REaENERATioisr of the 
Social State. Perfect Freedom, Fraternity, 
Equality, and Love shall be triumphant and 
reign supreme. There will be no Monopolists 
with their hundreds of millions, while poverty 



CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 289 

and liunger cry in vain for relief ; for the King, 
at tlie Head of the Government, will have 
"broken in pieces the oppressor," and "saved 
the children of the needy." 'No more "devour- 
ing of widows' houses"; for the men guilty of 
such heartless avarice are among those who are 
"thrust out of the kingdom." "They shall 
build houses and inhabit them. They shall 
plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof. They 
shall not build and another inhabit ; nor plant 
and another eat." Wars shall cease, and peace 
shall reign, as the Law of Fraternal Love is the 
bond of every household, of every community, of 
every state. They shall beat the weapons of war 
into agricultural implements, and, safe from in- 
vasion, "sit every man under his vine and under 
his fig-tree ; and none shall make them afraid." 
There shall also be the REaET^EEATio]^ of 
Governments. While the incorrigible kingdoms 
and states are to be destroyed at Christ's coming, 
those governments that have so far subordinated 
themselves to the law of God, as to be substan- 
tially Christian in a practical sense ; and unen- 
lightened heathen nations who, on account of 
that unenlightenment, have not forfeited their 
right of existence, will remain subject to Mes- 
siah's Administration, for farther probation, im- 
provement, and assimilation, till they come into 
perfect concord with His Law of Fraternity, 
Equality, and Love ; and the Divine Democracy 
of Christ assumes its Universal Sway. Those 
nations will exercise no independent power, but 
13 



290 ECCE VERITAS. 

be subject to tlie Authority of Cheist, whose 
" Kingdom is from the river to the ends of the 
Earth." He reigns as the "Peestce of Peace," 
" sending forth His Law from Jeeusalem "; and 
the whole dominion of His Kingdom must re- 
spond to the Divine Authority in the interest of 
Peace. It is written by one, to whose clear 
vision it was revealed, in these significant words : 
" Of the increase of His Government and Peace, 
there shall be no end, upon the Throne of David, 
and upon his Kingdom, to order it, and to estab- 
lish it with Judgment and with Justice from 
TiencefortTi even Foeeyee." 

All the kingdoms of the world that the Devil 
showed to Cheist, and offered to Him to tempt 
Him from His allegiance to the Fathee, He 
reaches and obtains at last, by adhering to the 
Plan that had been marked out for Him as Grod's 
Messiah. He receives " the Heathen for His Ie- 
HEEiTANCE, and the Utteemost Paets of the 
Eaeth for His PossESSioif." So, in relation to 
this time and triumph, it is written — "There 
were great voices in Heaven, saying. The king- 
doms of this world are become the Kingdom of 
our LoED and of His CHEIST ; and He shall reign 
forever and ever." Not a "thousand years" 
merely — which stand a definite for an indefinite 
number — ^but "forever and eYev^^—the entire 
Messianic Age ; commencing properly with the 
Second Coming of Christ, and ending when He 
" delivers up the kingdom to God the Fathee." 

His Kingly work during this period will be to 



CHRISrS KINGDOM. 291 

subdue, among the nations that remain, the 
spirit of insubordination, convert the uncon- 
verted, and, by the sovereign sway of Peace and 
Love, " put God's law in men's inward parts, and 
write it in their hearts"; "And He shall not fail 
nor be discouraged, till He have set Judgment 
in the Eaeth ; and the Isles shall wait for His 
Law." " For He must reign until all things are 
subdued under Him, whether things in Heaven, 
or things in Earth, or things under the Earth"; 
and until " every tongue shall confess that Jesus 
Christ is Loed, to the glory of God the Fathee." 
Thus every enemy shall be subdued or destroy- 
ed ; and the last enemy that shall be destroyed 
is Death ; when, " having seen of the travail of 
His soul. He shall be Satisfied." Then shall 
every redeemed soul, with the IjsrcAEisrATE So]sr, 
who is the Resueeectioin' and the Life, join in 
triumph over that last Enemy and exclaim — 
"0, Death, where is thy Sting? 0, Geave, 
where is thy Yictoet ? " 

This is the Consummation ; the end of Mes- 
siah's Reign of " Reconciliation," when " He 
delivers up the kingdom, and becomes. Himself, 
subject to the FATHER, that GOD may be ALL- 
IN-ALL." " Come then, Loed Jesus," O Thou 
"KING OF SAINTS," and "PRINCE of the 
Kings of the earth," Come and REIGN ! 

** Come then, and added to thy many crowns, 
Receive yet one, the Crown of all the EARTH, 
Thou who alone art worthy ! It was Thine 
By ancient covenant ere Nature's birth ; 



292 ECCE VERITAS. 

And Thou hast made it Thine by purchase since, 

And overpaid its value with Thy blood. 

Thy saints proclaim Thee KING ; and in their hearts 

Thy title is engraven with a pen 

Dipt in the Fountain of Eternal Love." 



CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 293 

GOD WITH US. 

Where'er God's IMAGE shines, 
Graved in unfading lines 
On Human Souls, even then and thus 
Is ''God with us^ 

The EoYAL Man of men 

Enshrined that Image when 

He said: " He doth the FATHER see 

Who seeth Me." 

In Him the Embodied Truth 
Glowed Sunlike and shone forth : 
The Logos " Was made Flesh," and thus 
God dwelt with us." 

And dwelleth ever through 
The Clirist-like men and true, 
Who, e'en as He, the world do light, 
As Stars the night. 

Why call it Mystery ? 

The Christ in Them, and He 

In HIM,— the FATHER in the Son,— 

A perfect ONE ? 

God's flowing forth must run 

To Him and them ; as Sun 

To Moon and Planets' rays give hiith. 

To light the Earth. 

In Him and Them the light 
Is God's reflection bright, 
And back to Him again must go, 
In endless flow. 

Of Heavenly Thrones the Hen-s, 

The Crown and Sceptre theirs, 

The '' ALL-IN-ALL" shall o\vn, adore, 

FOREVERMORE. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date; April 2005 

PreservationTechnoloqies 

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